Though the number of calls about seal pups on area beaches has been relatively low, those who monitor the pups are reminding those visiting beaches to give them their space.
Sharing the beach means staying 100 yards away if possible and keeping dogs leashed.
“The number of calls so far this year appears to be slightly down from last year probably due to the COVID-19 restrictions, but it is early yet. Only 47 (calls) so far,” said Sandra Dubpernell of the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 seal pups are born in the state’s inland waters from June through August.
Calls have been on a decline since 2017 when just over 200 were received. In 2018, reports fell to 150 and last year there were about 110.
Harbor seals are by far the most reported species. In contrast, there have been fewer than 25 sea lion reports in any year between 2015 and 2019.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, harbor seal populations have recovered to healthy numbers.
Nursing pups remain with their mothers for four to six weeks before they start to forage and survive on their own.
Weaned pups spend extended hours on shore resting and regulating their body temperature, and spend time out of the water in the same place for weeks at a time.
It is best to leave the animals alone. It is often a matter of life and death, seeing as how about 50 percent will not survive their first year.
“They die,” Dubpernell said. “It happens. But we don’t want that to happen needlessly. It’s tough enough for them already.”
Because marine mammals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is a crime to harass them or capture them.
