Two young Harbor Seal pups with big brown eyes waited patiently in their cages as the marine animal rehabilitation specialists from SR3 made the final preparations to release them.
The abandoned pups were released into Puget Sound from the boat launch at Fort Ward Park Nov. 2 by Sealife Response Rehabilitation and Research in Des Moines.
“These were dependent pups that relied on their mom for food and calories and for one reason or another, were abandoned before they were fully weaned. Because mom took off, and they weren’t old enough to be able to forage on their own,” said Michelle Rivard, an SR3 veterinarian.
“They were dehydrated, and thin, but otherwise looked pretty good. So, it was really just a matter of helping them to put on weight, getting them to free feed fish, and as you’ll see, in a minute, they’re nice and robust and chunky, and ready to go back into the wild.”
The female harbor seal pup named Virgo was found stranded in West Seattle. The male pup named Pyxis was stranded in Bremerton. Both were put into rehabilitation care at SR3 because they were victims of too much human disturbance in the area they were found. After three months of learning to eat fish, gaining weight, getting strong and healing from any wounds, they were ready for release.
Casey Mclean, executive director and veterinary nurse, said SR3 typically releases animals within 30 miles from where they were found because that’s the home range where they likely came from and close to their genetic population. As the cage doors were opened a dozen people watched silently as the two pups wasted no time exiting their cages and making a splash as they re-entered open water.
One of the reasons SR3 picked Fort Ward is because the dependent pups are really naive and don’t have much experience in the wild.
“This is to allow them the freedom to leave and head into the water when they want, but also give them ample haul-out space if they need it. And Orchard Rocks is just right around the corner over here, and there’s a ton of harbor seals that hang out there,” Rivard said.
The two seal pups were last seen swimming together near the Fort Ward Park boat launch.
A dozen marine animal advocates, including state Sen. Christine Rolfes, members of SR3 and a NOAA representative, attend the release of the seal pups on Bainbridge Island.
James Powell, SR3 Response Program manager, supervises the unloading of the seal pup cages at the Fort Ward boat launch.
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A dozen marine animal advocates attend the release of seal pups.
