Report Details

My COASST survey partner, Bert Johnstone, and I came across this seal while on our survey Saturday the 9th of June. It was on an open expanse of beach, ocean-side of the wrack, at low tide. It was undisturbed aside from a few bird footprints in the sand around it. I truly thought it had been shot, both in its rear end and its head; it surely looked that way. There was blood spattered from the impact of the head wound, and the head was lying in a pool of blood. There was a wound in the genital area, but no spatter of blood, so I thought maybe that shot had come first, the seal had tried to make its escape, and then was shot in the head. The seal looked healthy and well-fed. I emailed my photos and my suspicions to Jim Rice at the Marine Mammal Institute at OSU, who, a couple days later, performed a necropsy on the seal and happily found no evidence of gunshots. I was really surprised; I've seen many dead seals on the beach, but none before with this kind of trauma. Jim suspects that the trauma was probably caused by natural predators, most likely turkey vultures. I had no idea they would attack with such force! But I'm glad it wasn't human predators.

Conditions

Temperature: 60 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: SW. Tide Level: -0.6 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 30. Number of dogs: 10.

Notable Wildlife

Various gulls

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 10. Sooty Shearwaters, Murres, a Scoter

Stranded Marine Mammals

Total stranded mammals: 1. Dead Seal

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Wood pieces.

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All Mile 196 Reports

Showing 8 of 36 reports

Mile 196

October 2, 2023

Many feet of sand have accumulated over the summer.

Pardiatthebeach

Mile 196

June 1, 2023

Very little man-made debris in the wrack line today.

Pardiatthebeach

Mile 196

March 1, 2023

Considering the strong tides of winter and some recent westerly winds debris on the beach is relatively light.

Pardiatthebeach

Mile 196

December 1, 2022

King tides have washed up to the bluffs but no erosion.

Pardiatthebeach

Mile 196

September 1, 2022

Sand has built back to a high level on the beach.

Pardiatthebeach

Mile 196

June 1, 2022

Very low tide so two people clamming.

Pardiatthebeach

Mile 196

May 8, 2022

Discovered a dead marine mammal at the high tide line.

Pardiatthebeach

Mile 196

March 3, 2022

The winter tides have exposed some gravel on the northern part of this beach, and brought out some agate hunters.

Pardiatthebeach