DES MOINES, Wash. — The Sealife Rescue Center in Des Moines is caring for injured and abandoned harbor seals and has a message heading into the hottest weeks of the summer: keep your distance from seal pups.
Sealife Response, Rehab and Rescue's (SR3) marine wildlife hospital opened in April 2021 in Des Moines. They take in injured harbor seal pups, many of which have been abandoned by their mothers after an encounter with a human.
It's the only hospital dedicated to marine life in the Pacific Northwest.
The hospital takes in mammals while they’re at a delicate point in their life – too young to be self-sufficient but old enough to get away from mom and into trouble.
SR3 is currently caring for four harbor pup seals.
Others haven’t been as lucky. Pictures shot within the last year along Vashon Island show three injured seal pups. One died after an encounter with a dog. A second one was found by a rescue group wrapped in a towel and emaciated after a presumed encounter with beachgoers.
“It doesn’t take much for a dog to nip at a pup, and that can turn into a life-threatening injury,” said Casey McLean, a marine biologist and the executive director of SR3.
Each pup they treat offers insight into the health of our oceans. Their health often reveals warning signs of infectious disease among the greater population.
“Even if we don’t have a ton of information about what happens to these animals post-release, the amount of information we can gather from them while they are in rehabilitation is actually quite significant and important,” said Michelle Rivard, a veterinarian for SR3.
And while some may end up as whale food, others are brought back to full strength and returned to the waters where they belong.
“That’s why we do what we do is to be able to release these guys back into the wild and to go back and be a part of the ecosystem,” McLean said.