Wildlife Conservation United States Project #11667

Central PugetSound Marine Mammal Stranding Network

by Orca Network

Project Report | Apr 28, 2017
New Equipment; Elephant Seals Return!

By Sandra Dubpernell & Susan Berta | CPS Stranding Network Coordinators

Ellie the Elephant Seal, photo by Nicole Luce

We start our report with a THANK YOU for your support!

And an example of how it helps us do the important work we do. Thanks to Global Giving donors, we finally had funds to purchase a brand new stainless steel table for performing necropsies (like autopsy on humans) on marine mammals to determine cause of death.

We had been using a folding “banquet” table covered with a plastic tarp for our surgeries. You can imagine what a mess that made. This new table is heavy duty stainless steel, with a perimeter lip and drainage tube, and it has wheels and can be folded for easy storage. It’s the “real thing”, and makes our job so much easier, safer and more efficient. This is just one example of how your support helps the not always glamorous "nuts and bolts" part of our work, and enables us to do a better job investigating each unfortunate marine mammal death to determine how/why the animal died. This in turn provides important data to researchers and the NOAA Fisheries National Marine Mammal and Ocean Health Data Base, which gives us a better picture of the health of our oceans.

Many interesting findings, none of which bode well for marine mammals, are discovered during a necropsy. Our most recent necropsy of a harbor porpoise revealed that it died from either cancer or a severe fungal infection. Further laboratory testing of the tissue samples (histopathology) is being conducted to determine the exact diagnosis and we are anxiously awaiting the results, as this was a very unusual case.

In previous years we had a harbor porpoise who died of a fungal infection, and another of lymphoma, indicating that marine mammals do suffer from the same diseases as humans. The recent death of an endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale was attributed to a fungal infection. Ongoing collection and analysis of the breath of orcas (collected as they exhale) is revealing the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and fungi. Since orcas don't strand often, researchers rely on information collected from similar species such as porpoise, to help them learn more about the possible threats to our small endangered Orca Population.

We thank you again for enabling us to more easily contribute our necropsy findings to the ongoing research into the health of these iconic animals of the Pacific Northwest and the environment in which they live.

But we don't want to just focus on the sad part of the work we do - sometimes we have pleasant surprises and respond to something that isn't a marine mammal in distress, and we had two exciting reports come in to our Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network earlier this month. On April 21st, we received a report and photo of "Ellie", a female Elephant seal who has been returning annually to the same Whidbey Island beach for a number of years now. Two years ago she surprised us by giving birth to a pup! Then last year, she returned to her usual beach, and her pup (who we named "Ellison - for Ellie's son), returned but showed up on the other side of Whidbey Island. Later on April 21st, we received another report and photo - this one of Ellison, hanging out on the same beach he had appeared on last year.

Elephant seals are relatively new to our inland waters - we have had a few occurrences of molting elephant seals, but only recently have they been documented giving birth in these waters. It has turned into a fascinating study, to learn that Ellie comes to the same beach every year, and now her son doing a similar thing on a different beach, but both of them returning on the same day. Our job now is to educate people about our new neighbors, the elephant seals, and to teach respect and make sure people stay a safe distance from them while they are hauled out on the beach. The location of these two elephant seals is not disclosed, and only these great photos are shared so people can enjoy them without disturbing them.

Thanks again for all your support ~

Ellison, Elephant Seal Pup, by Jeff Harris, NOAA

Porpoise Necropsy, on new necropsy table

Our new Necropsy table - thanks to you!

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Feb 2, 2017
"Maxine" the Harbor Porpoise project complete!

By Sandra Dubpernell & Susan Berta | Stranding Network Coordinators

Volunteer team readying Maxine for Transport

Christmas came early to Orca Network's Langley Whale Center on Whidbey Island, WA!

On December 5th, our first full marine mammal skeletal display, "Maxine," a Harbor porpoise who had stranded on Maxwelton Beach near Langley, was installed as a permenant educational exhibit at the Whale Center.

This was possible because of many volunteers from the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Burke Museum and their beetle colony (for cleaning her bones), Dave Parent DVM and Cathy Robinson PA-C (for providing workshop space for the skeletal crew to reassemble Maxine), our CPSMMSN "skeleton crew" and stranding response/necropsy team, and Marine Mammal Vet Dr. Stephanie Norman and DVM/Pathologist Barry Rickman for their amazing work on the necropsy and pathology workup on this porpoise after she stranded on Maxwelton Beach. They have published a scientific poster and are working on publishing a paper about this case, as they discovered she died from B cell Lymphoma, something very rare to be found in Harbor Porpoise in the Salish Sea.

Though any marine mammal death is sad, through the work of the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network and Langley Whale Center volunteers, this porpoise's death has at least resulted in furthering what we know about the health of the Salish Sea and its inhabitants. The story of how she died, and the exhibit with her skeleton will educate thousands of people about Harbor porpoise and marine mammal diseases in the Salish Sea.

If you are in the Whidbey Island, WA area, stop by the Langley Whale Center at 115 Anthes, to meet Maxine and learn about all the marine mammals of the Salish Sea. Along with information about Orcas and Gray whales, you will find many bone specimens, baleen, teeth, and pelts from marine mammals to help educate the public about our ocean's health. These were collected and prepared by our dedicated volunteers at the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network, and provide hands on learning experiences at the Whale Center as well as through community and school outreach and education by Stranding Network and Orca Network volunteers.

Thanks to your support, the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network can continue to respond and investigate marine mammal strandings in our corner of the Salish Sea, and to educate the public about marine mammals and the healhty habitats they need to survive.

Loading Maxine for transport to her new home

Carefully installing the exhibit

Meet Maxine the Harbor Porpoise!

Happy volunteers and Maxine in Whale Center window

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Nov 7, 2016
We made it through another Seal Pup season!

By Sandra Dubpernell | Stranding Network Coordinator

Seal pup hauled out to rest on a dock

Whew! We made it through another Harbor seal pupping season - from June to early August for new-born sightings, through late August through October for "weaner" sightings. Moms will nurse their pups for four to six weeks before weaning them. Pups that have been weaned are called “weaners”.

There were a total of 128 Harbor seal pup reports in 2014, 114 in 2015, and 134 in 2016 (see chart).

There were two happenings of interest this year. Of the 16 reports in June, six were of premature, or "lanugo", pups with an unspotted white coat. No lanugo seal pups were reported in the two previous years.

Also, there were more reports of weaner pups in September and October this year, including one healthy pup who climbed onto a dock at a busy marina. He remained there for two days, despite visits by dogs, curious children and an attempt by a man to shove it off the dock (which is a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act). After two days the pup took off for parts unknown, likely finding a less busy place to haul out. A happy ending!

Another unusual behavior noted this year was that of a juvenile male California sea lion. He came ashore on south Whidbey Island, and followed a worker operating a back hoe on the beach to rebuild a sea wall for several days, then later reports had him being curious and friendly to some local residents. Apparent friendliness is unusual in a sea lion in this region, and could be a sign of illness, but nothing obvious was observed when the sea lion was assessed and observed by our volunteer (though it is difficult to safely do more than assess live sea lions from a distance). Nevertheless, people were warned to stay a safe distance away in case he suddenly became aggressive, and our volunteer talked to all the neighbors in the area to educate them about the sea lion. After all a sea lion is an unpredictable wild animal with large teeth, who can move very fast on land. He remained in the area for a couple of days and then went out to sea. Another happy ending.

Seal pup season is the busiest time of year for the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network, and we educate hundreds of local residents and visitors to our area about seals and pupping season, and how to safely observe marine mammals on the beach from a distance.

Thanks to your support, we are able to continue education and stranding response efforts in Island, Skagit and North Snohomish counties in Washington state - we could not do it without your help!

Links:

Attachments:

CPSMMSN Harbor seal pupping season, 2014 - 2016 (PDF)

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