(Photos by Robin Lindsey)
When the Seal Sitters‘ hotline – 206-905-SEAL – rings, “there’s a seal on the beach” is the most common report. Not this time: “There’s a seal on a kayak!” instead. Seal Sitters’ Robin Lindsey shares the photos and tells the story:
Yesterday afternoon, Seal Sitters hotline operator Tess received a call that a seal pup had hopped aboard a passing kayak and the boater wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. Jeff Kelley and his son, who was visiting from Brooklyn, were taking a spin in their kayaks around Elliott Bay when a pup started trailing them. Suddenly, the pup jumped onto the back of the kayak and was not particularly interested in returning to the water – after well over 30 minutes, they contacted Seal Sitters for advice.
A tired seal pup will sometimes rest on a log in the water – or even hop on a passing logboom being towed by a tugboat to catch a snooze. Or, a kayak or paddleboard. Jeff and his son did exactly the right thing: they let the pup rest, remained in the area and then gently encouraged the pup to abandon ship when they needed to move along on their journey.
Robin has published a longer version of the story on the Seal Sitters’ “blubberblog” site – see it here.
P.S. Another report tells the story of Ma Kai, a pup who’s been showing up nightly for a while – and posing quite the challenge.
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