Seal Attack!

[goodbasil]

Tonights news: A fella in North Vancouver is on the dock cleaning fish, his five year old daughter is watching when a harbour seal jumps from the water, grabs her by the arm and drags her under for about four seconds. Figures the fact that she was wearing a life jacket is what saved her.

They
weigh up to 290 lbs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Seal

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090902/national/seal_snatches_girl

[riveter]

And what a wonderful father. I see to many people let thier kids play around water without a pfd.

[JimConlin]

I vaguely recollect that there was a seal in Rockport, ME who got territorial about some dinghies at the town dock. The water in them was warmer than the harbor. He later got further domesticated and went into show business.

[Yeadon]

Probably mistook her little arm for a fish. I bet people are hand feeding fish guts to the seals.

[JimD]

I vaguely recollect that there was a seal in Rockport, ME who got territorial about some dinghies at the town dock. The water in them was warmer than the harbor. He later got further domesticated and went into show business.

I saw him doing stand up in a small club in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan before he made it big.

[Three Cedars]

Seals have excellent eyesight ... who knows what caused the seal to drag the girl into the water but I doubt it mistook her hand or arm for a fish . That the father and another guy were cleaning fish with the girl nearby is important . It is not unlikely that the seal was previously fed by people then expected it again and got frustrated .

[Nanoose]

And what a wonderful father. I see to many people let thier kids play around water without a pfd.

Riveter!!...(posting today at 6:42 p.m.).....I guess you made it safe and sound! I was at the boat today, and noted you got away alright...hope the trip down went well.
Deb

[peter radclyffe]

thank god she's alright

[Lew Barrett]

Terrible incident for her. I'm with you Peter, a very disturbing event for all concerned.

[goodbasil]

The trouble with seals is that they have such a gentle face with those big eyes one would be tempted to encourage them to you and want to feed or pet them. It could cost you a finger.

[WX]

The trouble with seals is that they have such a gentle face with those big eyes
That is true but they also have big teeth! A fact I duly noted on my first encounter with them....think big dog! otherwise they do indeed look quite cute.

[Thorne]

I've read that there are serious issues in Antarctica with the really large seals going after scuba divers -- and like the crocs in OZ, they can swim in the water **and** run on land/ice faster than we can for short distances...

[Iceboy]

There was one person in Antarctica killed by a seal. It is not a serious issue as in happening all the time. Most of them decide to depart when the divers are in the area. The exception is leopard seals. From personal experience I can tell you that about the only time they are faster than a human on land is when you are between them and the hole they have chewed in the ice. They are surpisingly easy to sneak up on in Antarctica with no predators out of the water. Just looking at a mouthful of inch long teeth and the fact that they are HUGE discourages messing with them too much.

[Thorne]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/2407248572_31e4b41886.jpg
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/11/leopard-seals/video-interactive

I like the text from this National Geographic site -
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/crittercam/antarctica/index.html?fs=animals.nationalgeographic.com
"What do you eat in the icy Antartic? If you are the ferocious leopard seal, almost anything you want."

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/11/leopard-seals/heacox-text
Ehlmé had heard stories. He knew about a leopard seal attack on a member of Shackleton's crew, Thomas Orde-Lees, who was skiing across sea ice when a leopard seal emerged from between two floes and lunged after him in bold, snakelike movements. Orde-Lees managed to keep ahead, kicking and gliding, until the seal dived into an open lane of water and tracked him from below—following his shadow—to pop up ahead. Orde-Lees turned and yelled for help. The seal pursued until it was shot dead by Frank Wild, Shackleton's second-in-command.

[Michael s/v Sannyasin]

http://www.greatsoftware.net/sailing/berserk14.jpg

[Iceboy]

Nice links Thorne. Thanks. Half a ton of bad attitude. About the only thing they have to fear is orca. I'd hate to be a penguin around either of them. When a leopard hauls out on the ice, all the other seals haul ass.

[Hal Forsen]

Sea Lions are a big problem in west coast harbors.
Despite folks best efforts, sea lions will haul out on their boats, making a big stinky mess at the least and occasionally even sinking them as in the case of this boat in Newport. http://images.ocregister.com/newsimages/community/costamesa_newport/2008/08/29_sunkboat2_large.jpg

Notice the net put up in a futile attempt to keep them off.

http://l38.falconinternet.net/lectronic/img_lectronic_800/2008-09-05_8531_seals.jpg

http://l38.falconinternet.net/lectronic/img_lectronic_432/2008-09-05_7445_IMG_9026.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/boseyachts/.Pictures/DSCF0026_thumbnail.png
They are aggressive and will bite but the Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits any sort of action.

There are also several dogooder rescue organizations that nurse back to health any injured sea lions and lost pups that wash up on the beach. Unfortunately they are always released back into the wild but they've lost there wildness and it leads to trouble
A couple years ago I was fishing and running the dogs on the beach at San Onofre. We encountered a young sea lion about 100lbs. which had obviously been in captivity with a tag in it's front flipper and missing an eye. It followed us almost two miles up the beach sometimes actually coming up onto the beach and other times swimming and surfing but always watching and following us.
Time came for us to leave and I stopped at the top of the berm to see what it would do. When it saw were leaving, I was stunned to watch it take three big leaps and jump right into the lap of a surfer sitting on his board waiting for a wave!
The guy understandably screamed out loud, bailed off on the other side and tipped the board dumping the sea lion off, but it jumped right back up onto the board! The guy dumped it off again then yanked the board around and snagged a wave prone to the beach where I was. He was totally freaked out and we were exchanging our stories when we noticed the sea lion had moved farther up the beach and come ashore amongst a bunch of asian fisherman who ran away from it.
A few days later I mentioned the incident to one of the rangers and she said " Oh yeah, That's Blinky". He was released from the Laguna Rescue and he's been causing trouble up and down the beach for weeks........."

[Hughman]

I vaguely recollect that there was a seal in Rockport, ME who got territorial about some dinghies at the town dock. The water in them was warmer than the harbor. He later got further domesticated and went into show business.

Jim,
That was 'Andre', of book and movie fame. I spoke to a guy who was rowing in the harbor, and was the subject of a flying attack into the boat, which left his friend bit up and in the hospital.

Andre was caged after that, i think.

[sailboy3]

SEAL ATTACKS 5-YEAR OLD!!!!!!!!
Sounds like something you would read in the tabloids. Can you imagine how freaky it would be to have a seal jump up and drag you into the water?

[Chip-skiff]

Does bear spray (potent capsicum compound) work on seals & sea lions?

When I was paddling on Sitka Sound, SE Alaska, local waterfolk told me that the sea lions were scarier (they surface and roar at close range) but that the harbour seals were the ones to look out for—they would follow you and and dash in for a nip.

[Scot L T]

One day last summer I was out in my little 15' stripper canoe on the Juan de Fuca south of Vancouver Island. This canoe is not really designed for too much big water so I don't go out far but paddle along the shore and enjoy an afternoon of sun and calm water.

So, along comes this fisherman in a +/- 20 foot glass boat with two rather large Harbour Seals peeking over the side. Apparently he had been out in the salmon fishing area and these two fellows had come shooting out of the water into his boat with a transient Orca hot on their tail flippers. As much as he tried he couldn't get them out so he was heading for shore to see if they would have a change of mind and beat it.

I thought it was pretty funny until I thought about it and wondered what if that had been me and my little canoe they had decided to hitch a ride with?...we all would have been Orca lunch!

Up until a hundred or less years ago, native populations (and others) hunted the seal and sea lions for food, fur, ivory etc. but now man has largely been taken out of the food chain as a predator to these guys (on the west coast at least) and I think they have lost their fear of humans as a danger.

You can stop in any little town along the coast, ask the locals about all the seals sunning on the boats, log booms and so on and you will get the same answer. Years ago there wasn't so many and they weren't such a problem. I also think they have their part to do with the vanishing salmon stocks as well. Those little fellows can eat a bunch of salmon in a big hurry. And if you have a bunch more seals eating salmon, well....

Don't get me wrong, I fully support conservation and I love their pretty little faces as much as anyone but if we are going to remove one of their major predators (humans) then we must be willing to accept the consequences of that action. And those consequences might include getting hauled off a dock, nipped as we're paddling our kayak, eating farmed salmon or getting our canoe sunk...

[Captain Blight]

MMPA probably needs to be revisited. I have personally witnessed numerous justified violations on Kodiak, with sea lions getting into nets and browsing daintily along the buffet until they were dissuaded with a 10-gauge double.

[Woxbox]

Sometimes they just want a little sun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1BDYTsmmPk