Seal Rescue

Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to find myself in Squamish for a week, climbing some of the classic problems in the area and socialising with friends. Business in Vancouver had provided a great excuse for a change of scene which is always good for the soul, wherever you live.

The mornings were taken with catching up on work over coffee and walking the dog at the beach. Not a bad way to start each day before pulling hard on some granite rock. My dog Chilko loves to chase sticks, (although not obsessivley I am happy to say) and it sure does work as a great way to tire her out.

Swimming is another favourite and so I launched a stick into the ocean. As Chilko returned to shore another head bobbed up beside her, staying ever so close as if trying to get the stick from her. It was a curious sight as I had not noticed another dog anywhere nearby and it was also a strikingly white face. I had to double take as Chilko walked up the beach oblivious to her new companion. It was a baby seal! The seal was fixated on following Chilko up the beach, crawling weakly and calling gently as a puppy would its mother. At this moment Chilko turned and faced the seal and nose to nose I realised that the seal seemed to respond to Chilko as if it was its mother.

I decided the best thing would be for the seal to return to the water and so throwing a stick for Chilko to chase they both entered the water and the seal pup dissapeared.

As I walked back from the beach amazed at what I had just witnessed I felt uneasy and responsible for this creature that had clearly been in some distress. I heard a distant call further down the shore. The sound stayed with me and I decided to see if I could find a marine rescue centre in the local area. It proved to be quite a mission. Fortunately through some friends I tracked down Brian Vincent a local wildlife conservationist and we managed to find a marine animal rescue centre based at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Back at the beach I found the seal curled up on some rocks, no sign of any other seals and certainly no mother. It had been a few hours and so I sent some images through to the rescue centre via my cell phone. They agreed it looked skinny and that likely it had been abandoned. Within a couple of hours two staff from the rescue centre had turned up at which point we noticed the seal still had an umbilical cord attached. the seal was no more than 24 hours old and looked like he/she had not yet fed. Amazingly when seals are born they are 25% the size of their mother!



It is hard to say what happened. There is a lot of traffic in the water in this stretch of the Howe Sound. Perhaps the mother met an unhappy ending or maybe they just got seperated. Either way I agreed with the rescue centre that with so much impact on the environment from humans and the consequences to wildlife as a result, when we can, it is worth giving something back.

Each month the marine rescue centre has a theme to name the animals, so they are not just a number. This month was mountains and so number 25 will be known as Mackenzie who will be given milk supplements and reintorduced into the wild at a later date.