PORT ANGELES — A beached elephant seal on Hollywood Beach is best left untouched, a Port Angeles scientist said.
The juvenile seal appeared on Hollywood Beach on Monday night.
Bob Campbell, director of the Arthur D. Feiro Marine Life Center, and Ed Bowlby, research coordinator at the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, have set up signs to warn onlookers against touching the animal and are monitoring it, Bowlby said Tuesday.
Although most seals that pop up on Port Angeles beaches are moulting, this seal appeared far too early for the moulting season, Bowlby said.
“It would really be an exceptional time frame for that,” he said.
He said he had checked out the seal but not examined it closely. When dealing with wild animals, his policy is to leave them alone unless they are in clear distress or they must be moved.
The seal didn’t appear to be in distress, “not that I can see superficially,” he said.
“People tend to get down there and look at it — which we advise them not to — and they hear it with what they think is abnormal breathing.
“It won’t breathe for a while, and then it will breathe really fast for a bit, and then not breathe awhile more,” Bowlby said.
“That is normal. It comes from its diving pattern.”
The seal has a cataract in one eye, but Bowlby said he didn’t know if that is connected to its having beached itself.
He said he couldn’t discern whether the animal was male or female but that it appeared to weigh about 100 pounds.
Bowlby said he reported the beached animal to the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
In 2007, a seal worked its way up into the park area near Hollywood Beach and was eventually moved to the tip of Ediz Hook beyond the entry gate to the Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles.
“It became a concern because it stayed there a few days, and we were concerned that it was going to bite someone or someone’s pet would interact with it,” he said.
“We are always under advisement with the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network if we don’t let nature take its course,” he added.
“They let us know when it should be moved.”
Bowlby suggested that curious onlookers take a peek from afar.
“It chose to hole up here, but we don’t want people disturbing it,” he said.
The animal could catch or transmit diseases to humans or pets, so staying at a distance is the best bet for keeping safe, he said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.