Prairie Girl on the High Seas: October 2014

Hey Team!

Sorry to be so quiet... again. My time in Wales is just about over (cue tears), the season is winding down and the ShoreFin team is frantically trying to get out a report of what we did for the past 6.5 months. Which is why I decided right now was the best time for a blog update? Yeah.... I'm a productive one (cue sarcasm).

Just a couple days ago, in the middle of chart making, stats crunching and map creating, a couple came up to the office to tell us a baby seal was stranded on the beach. We looked at each other a little bit, then grabbed the camera and headed down to check it out.

Now some of you may remember when I took the Marine Mammal Medic Course in September. All of a sudden, I was the "expert" down on that beach. How did that happen?

But seals are actually pretty easy. People forget that they are more or less amphibious in that they can survive out of the water without drying out or crushing all their organs, unlike cetaceans. They do feed in the water and they swim better than they walk (or flop around, really) on land, but a seal out of the water really isn't a huge deal. Except people don't seem to know that. The only time we need to step in is if they are injured, foaming at the mouth or seem exceptionally under-nourished.

I'm in awe of those who can sleep any time, anywhere

So this seal. Cute as a button, not injured and not malnourished. Just sort of tired because the day before the leftovers of Hurricane Gonzales came through and whipped the bay into a frenzy. Quite actually. So if I had to have been swimming around in that, I'd be tired too! Seemed this little (really not that little) guy had figured the beach was the easiest place to haul out, rather than the rocks.

Our job in the end was simply to inform beach-goers to keep their dogs on leashes and to keep away from the seal. And to take many, many photos. After a solid nap and a couple hours, the seal flopped it's way back into the water, swam across New Quay and hauled out on some rocks where there was less disturbance. An hour or so later it jumped back in and swam away.

Tyra Banks couldn't do it better

So things to take away from this - if you live in a place where you might see seals, it's not a big worry if they are seen on rocks or beaches close to the water. They've hauled out for a rest or something, they'll go back in eventually. If you see a seal far away from water, like a parking lot or something, call whatever sort of marine mammal stranding hotline you have for your area. They'll point you in the right direction.