Wednesday Lindsay and I attempted to watch another seal necropsy. Unlike the last one, this seal died as a result of its mother abandoning it. The pup was malnourished and it was attacked and killed by a bald eagle before being picked up. Even though it’s really sad that not all pups survive and that they do in fact get abandoned and killed, that’s the circle of life. With the nearest rehabilitation center closing, the people at Allied Whale have realized that they need to prioritize their rescues. Fortunately for the harbor seals, they are not an endangered species so the main course of action has been to let nature take its course. That is however unless a seal has been spotted on public property or where the seal has been impacted by human interference. Then Allied Whale will go out and help the animal in its most capable manner. They feel responsible, as humans, for this animal’s welfare and if it is left in the location it can be very distressing for the public. Unfortunately NOAA has a rule about transporting rescued marine animals out of state, however they soon may have to break this rule due to the lack of rehabilitation centers in Maine. The animals that Allied Whale does pick up, they try their best to find a way to shuttle it to another rehabilitation center that is hours away. Fortunately volunteers do stand by to make the drive easier.
-Bre
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On Wednesday and Thursday, we also went out on the nature cruise in the afternoon again. The sighting patterns have been quite consistent, and the seals and raptors have been seen in around the same spots on a daily basis. While it’s nice that we’re getting the hang of it, and we can often spot and identify the animals before the naturalist on board does which is really gratifying, it sort of takes away from the spontaneity of wildlife watching and really decreases the time that we’re actively looking for animals. With the exception of a few harbor porpoise, it’d be nice for a few surprises to keep us on our toes. However, the beauty of the area as a whole will never get old to me.
Also, everyone’s been pretty curious regarding the whale situation (I get “so have you seen a whale yet?” at least once a day). But the truth of the matter is that it is very early in the season. Whales start trickling in early May, but the prime time of the season is July and August. Commercial whale watching just began this Memorial Day weekend, and so far they haven’t seen anything yet. In recent news though, the last couple days their bait radar, the machine that senses the presence of plankton and other various fish that whales feed on, has been relatively dead. Yesterday; however, they noticed an astronomical spike in the bait population, and as common sense would tell you, wherever the food is the whales are. So hopefully hopefully we will see something before we leave. ~so please pray 4 us ~
-Lindsay
That's very sad that those poor pups have to die, but it is the circle of life! WOOHOO
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