This seal pup was born while we were at anchor in a remote bay in the San Juan Islands. We watched the mother circle the pup a few times after giving birth before nestling up in some kelp that had wrapped around our anchor in the passing tidal current, giving the baby seal a little “shelter” to rest behind. The next morning, the mother was gone – apparently abandonment is fairly common, yet very sad, as the pup still had part of an umbilical cord attached.
So – we waited for a few days to see what would happen, front row seats to our own private Discovery Channel. The pup seemed to think that we were its mother – suckling at the side of the boat, looking for a nipple, not leaving our side, only stopping to rest in the kelp around our anchor chain before falling asleep, eventually drifting off in the tidal currents. Any time we would row the dinghy ashore, the pup would follow after us, seemingly trying to get in the back of the boat. (Not a behavior we would want to encourage of a wild animal.)
So – we ended up calling an animal rescue facility on San Juan Island to explain the situation, and the pup’s clearly diminishing energy levels from malnourishment. The next day, a team of wildlife biologists arrived, hoping to rescue the pup. In a mixed blessing, she was very afraid of the new boat, so – in order to protect the pup from their props, we rowed our dinghy out and were able to bring the baby on board without any drama. She was asleep in a cooler within minutes, enjoying the first real nap of her life before spending a couple of weeks at the rehab facility before being released back into the wild.
