Newborn Harbor Seal Pups Vulnerable

The presence of people or dogs near a seal pup can prevent a mother seal from reuniting with her young one.
Newborn Harbor Seal Pups Vulnerable
A harbor seal pup named Pavi. (Photo: Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco, California.)
2/27/2009
Updated:
3/8/2009
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_1408_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_1408_medium.JPG" alt="A harbor seal pup named Pavi. (Photo: Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco, California.)" title="A harbor seal pup named Pavi. (Photo: Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco, California.)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-81823"/></a>
A harbor seal pup named Pavi. (Photo: Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco, California.)
Each year, joyful events such as witnessing harbor seal pupping season along the California coast are touched by sadness.

Last week, the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco rescued its first harbor seal patient of the season.

Park rangers kept the harbor seal pup on watch in hopes of spotting his mother. With no mother in site, the pup, later named Pavi, was lying on the beach, vulnerable to birds that were pecking at it. The days-old male pup was taken at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in San Mateo County and vets and volunteers at the Center began tube-feeding him daily.

“Unfortunately, Pavi, like so many prematurely born harbor seals, was very weak and had not built up the resistance needed to survive those first critical weeks and he died,” said Jim Oswald from the Marine Mammal Center.

The local organization dedicated to preserving marine mammals, reminded beachgoers to not disturb harbor seal pups that might show up along the California coast in the coming weeks during the harbor seal pupping season from March through June.

“We admitted more than 100 harbor seals last year for a variety of reasons, including those that were separated from their mothers as a result of humans picking them up and removing them from their natural habitat,” said Shelbi Stoudt, stranding manager at The Marine Mammal Center.

The Marine Mammal Center encourages people to keep their distance when they see a sick or abandoned seal pup. The presence of people or dogs near a seal pup can prevent a mother seal from reuniting with her young one.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_1409_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_1409_medium.JPG" alt=" (Photo: Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco, California.)" title=" (Photo: Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco, California.)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-81824"/></a>
 (Photo: Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, near San Francisco, California.)
Disturbances from people and their dogs can result in reduced habitat use, abandonment of their natural habitat and harbor seal pups deaths.

Usually, when a harbor seal pup is alone on the shore, its mother is nearby. However, well- intentioned beachgoers may think that the pup is in trouble and immediately pick it up or put the harbor seal pup in the water, or worse remove it from the area, but a seal pup depends on the rich milk of its mother for survival.

Each year healthy harbor seal pups are being taken away from their mothers by people who mistake them for orphans.

Seals are federally protected animals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

What to do if you come across a sick or abandoned seal on a beach:
   Stay at least 50 feet away from it. Pup mothers may be nearby.
   Do not handle it and keep other people and dogs away.
   To report a distressed or stranded marine mammal in the San Francisco Bay Area, call 415-289-SEAL (7325).