This story is reproduced courtesy of the Penninsula Daily News: penninsuladailynews.com

By Rob Ollikainen
Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — An elephant seal that settled on Hollywood Beach last weekend has moved, but not by choice.  For its own protection — and the safety of the general public — scientists from the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary moved the adolescent female seal on Tuesday to the beaches near the Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles at the end of Ediz Hook. “The decision was based on the seal’s health and the public’s health, both,” marine sanctuary research coordinator Ed Bowlby said. “We’re not sure if it’s molting or if it’s just been weaned from its mother. It’s just now learning to feed for itself.”

John Barimo, left, and Ed Bowlby, right, of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and Bob Campbell of the Fiero Marine Life Center, center, secure a net around a moulting elephant seal on Hollywood Beach in Port Angeles on Tuesday in an attempt to move the animal to a safer location. — Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

The decision to move the seal was made by the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Protected Resources, Bowlby said. With about two dozen people looking on, three scientists placed the seal into a net, loaded her into a green Chevrolet minivan and left the City Pier. The cub flapped its paws but didn’t struggle when placed into the net.  Its estimated age is between four and six months.

Molting occurs when a seal loses part of its skin and hair, said Bob Steelquist, sanctuary public information officer. The seal had been lying high on the sand between the City Pier and the Crab House Port Angeles Restaurant. Yellow tape separated the seal from curious onlookers. Bowlby said it is uncommon for elephant seals to wash up on Port Angeles shores. “We tend to get more harbor seals,” he said.

Elephant seals are indigenous to the Northwest, but have concentrated in California since their numbers dwindled.  Adult elephant seals can dive to depths as great as 4,000 feet in search of fish and squid, Bowlby said. Their populations are recovering, and the species is making a return to the Northwest, Bowlby said.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen (use the at sign) peninsuladailynews.com.