Seal Sitters volunteer training next Saturday, and a sad reminder of why the mission matters

| How to help | West Seattle news | Wildlife

(Photo by Robin Lindsey)
Being a Seal Sitters volunteer can have its joyful moments – in the photo above, without binoculars, are volunteers Eilene and David Hutchinson, helping people see and learn about marine mammals. But there are also the sorrows – Seal Sitters’ Robin Lindsey told us today about a way-too-thin pup that died, though they tried to rescue him. The full story’s on Blubberblog, including a reminder that protecting pups on beaches is vital, as they need to be able to rest up between food runs. The protection requires a sizable volunteer corps, and if you would like to be part of it, this Saturday, you are invited to a training session, 10 am till about 12:30 pm, at Camp Long (5200 35th SW).

This will be a special session for those wanting to respond to and protect marine mammals on the beaches of West Seattle and along the Duwamish River.

A multi-media presentation by SS lead investigator Robin Lindsey will illustrate the unique challenges of protecting seals and marine mammals in an urban environment, as well as highlighting our educational work in the community. Zoologist and SS education and science advisor Buzz Shaw will discuss the biology and behavior of seals and other pinnipeds of Puget Sound. A companion followup “on-the-beach” training will be scheduled in the weeks to come. Space permitting, we encourage current volunteers to feel free to come on the 3rd for a “tune-up.”

There will be no training sessions during the summer or height of pupping season (mid-August thru October) due to time and staff constraints. However, there will be a new volunteer training in late May if you can’t make this date. Please contact us if you have any questions. Please RSVP as seating is limited to 60. We look forward to seeing you there!

You can do that by e-mailing sealsitters (at) me (dot) com.

WS Neighbor February 26, 2012 (7:52 pm)

I am so impressed and grateful for the volunteers who contribute their own time and resources to watch over these vulnerable seal babies on the beach in the cold and wet winter weather — thank you so much in particular to the dedicated young lady at Lincoln Park Beach this weekend, watching over the patient seal pup, who raised his head as I ran by, to watch for his mama’s return.

frank February 27, 2012 (12:53 pm)

What are the seal sitters protecting the seals from?

WSB February 27, 2012 (1:18 pm)

Mostly dogs and humans. Both of whom will generally get right up in the animal’s face otherwise, with potential results including it having to flop quickly back into the water to protect itself, burning up calories from whatever food it was able to find, if not something worse. Dogs are illegal on Seattle beaches but too many seem to ignore that law. Even well-meaning humans may not understand that – unlike what would be the case if you came upon, say, some other marine mammals on the beach, seals are generally NOT in trouble and come up on the beach to rest – they can stay out of the water for hours. People who don’t know that have been known to either try to chase the seal back into the water, to even try to pick it up and carry it to the water, or worse … And of the occasionally ill-intentioned, there have been cases of people kicking or hitting the pups. Tons of info at http://www.sealsitters.org but that’s a summary … TR

Alex February 28, 2012 (11:59 am)

I’m confused why WSB deleted my previous comment. Like Frank, I’m confused as to why this is (so very frequently) news, and to why SealSitters are necessary.
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The harbor seal is not an endangered animal, and it doesn’t need our help (although it is a very cute animal). Why not report on news related to helping some of the many endangered animals that exist (or barely exist) in the puget sound?
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It bothers me to see such attention lavished on cute animals, rather than animals that actually need our help.

WSB February 28, 2012 (12:11 pm)

They are federally protected and part of the Puget Sound ecosystem. I would disagree with you that a baby seal who turns up on a beach does not need protection. Aside from that, in the formal sense of the word: Does something have to be endangered before we care about it? You could argue that a million other volunteer efforts in our town and the world aren’t responding to a crisis – do we have to have reading tutors, since kids have free education at school? Do we have to donate food to food banks, when hungry people could go stand in line at a shelter downtown? And on and on. SS does work to protect and educate endangered mammals that turn up here as well, BTW (there was a Steller sea lion in the area recently). You could also argue that since these are federally protected animals, it’s actually a wiser use of resources to have volunteers out protecting them, rather than leave them vulnerable and have to call in federal (or other) wildlife agents when invariably something goes wrong.
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If you haven’t read it before, here’s the Seal Sitters “about” page. http://www.sealsitters.org/about_us/about_seal_sitters.html
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And yes, we do report rather endlessly on other animal efforts, from domestic dogs/cats to the orca advocates with organizations such as The Whale Trail, Killer Whale Tales, etc. When they put out calls for donations/volunteers, we’re there. (And human-related efforts too – note the school-volunteer call published on our site this morning.)
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I for one would not be happy living in a world without wildlife. In the 20 years since we arrived in Seattle, it has become harder and harder to find. In our first few years here, I used to walk on Alki and see “rafting” California sea lions – a great group of them, resting in the water, dark fins protruding over the surface. I used to sit on the wall on Beach Drive and see much larger groups of sea ducks like scoters and brant and buffleheads and goldeneye. I’m thrilled that there are volunteers doing this work and all the OTHER work nobody will pay for – helping humans as well as animals – and that we have the honor of being able to share the news about it. It’s not here at the expense of any other news. Luckily the Internet is virtually infinite, and we have room for everything.
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TR

Alex February 28, 2012 (1:10 pm)

Seals are neither “endangered,” nor “threatened,” nor even remotely low in number. They are legally protected only in the sense that we generally aren’t allowed to shoot wild animals (you can’t just go around shooting wild raccoons either).
But if a dozen seals were to die as a result of dogs illegally off leashes, it would still have zero impact on the population of tens of thousands of seals that exist in our local waters alone.
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I agree wholeheartedly about wanting to live in a world with animals. That’s precisely why I find it so interesting that our advocacy extends so strongly to those animals that are already thriving, rather than those that are literally dying out.
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I suppose it would be tough to get volunteers to sit vigilant protecting a Marsh Shrew…

Westie March 5, 2012 (9:57 am)

Hi Alex,
I’d help out a Marsh Shrew. Just let me know how to help and if I can I will. In the meantime, I have time to help seals so I’m going to do that. I attended the Seal Sitters training this last weekend and thought it was informative. I would not have known about it if the blog didn’t post it. Thank you WSB

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