Jan 19 2003: We have a very disturbing and sad situation here with one of the Elephant Seals. In the late morning an elephant seal hauled out by the boat house, it was immediately apparent that this poor animal has had a run in with a boat prop. There are several deep gashes in the fore head just above his eyes. One eye is very bloodshot and the other eye seems to be getting red. There are other wounds or slashes from the head down to below the front flippers. The wounds are curved slices like a series of long parallel ‘slashes on both sides.The deepest gashes are on the head and right side cheek area. We checked on him all during the day, just before dark he moved into the water. The other much larger elephant seal is still around and happy to say he has no marks on him. He has hung around by the dock all afternoon and at times quite loud. I do wonder if there is any communication between these two great creatures. They are really quite placid most of the time and we can get as close as a foot if we approach from the front. Hopefully the one fellow’s wounds are not fatal. People must take extra care moving boats through the area to avoid hitting seals and sealions and causing what must be very painful injuries. See http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/vidinjureseal.htm for a video of the elephant seal.
You can also see other  videos taken taken later of Slash and his recovery over the next few years:
http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/slash.htm