Featured Image Credit: Mike Baird via Flickr
By Emily Persico
Monterey Bay is experiencing an influx of seals on its beaches, closely shadowed by an influx of tourists stalking after them, both on foot and with drones. While primarily driven by curiosity for these beautiful creatures, these well-meaning people are breaking up families and causing seals great harm.
Seals are sensitive creatures. As often as it happens, they are not accustomed to people stomping around their pupping grounds. New mothers and mothers-to-be are, not surprisingly, are afraid of anything they can’t trust. They want to be good parents, but they will abandon their pups if they sense a threat.
You are a threat, and so is everything you bring with you to the beach.
This is why scientists and volunteers have set up “No Trespassing” areas surrounded by fences. While these fences are meant to protect the seals, many people have been ignoring them completely.
“Right now we’ve got some pretty delicate situations among the harbor seals,” says Thorn Akeman, a volunteer with BayNet who protects the seals by educating the public.
Seals typically give birth on sandy beaches, but with people, dogs, and drones surrounding them from all angles, a few seals have taken a different, more risky approach.
“We had two seal pups born over the weekend in rocks. That is not normal for this colony,” Akerman says.
Unfortunately, both pups were abandoned by their mothers. Rescuers, unable to get close for fear of disturbing the whole colony, were only able to save one of the two.
“We have to be really careful about not disturbing the whole rookery for just one pup,” explains Julia O’Hern of the Marine Mammal Center.
That left the other pup, aptly named “Rocky,” all by his lonesome, where he is at risk of starvation and dehydration.
Whether scouring the air by drone or merely walking on a day at the beach, disturbing seals in protected areas is a federal violation. Even if a seal is abandoned, leave it alone. Leave it to the professionals. Call the Marine Mammal Center at (831)-633-6298. Find help.
And, if you find your curiosity driving you dangerously close to these adorable sea creatures, consider volunteering with BayNet instead. Learn about the species while helping to teach people, too.