A seal has given birth to a healthy pup after volunteers watched her struggling with a piece of plastic looped around her growing belly. Plastic and other marine debris is increasingly becoming more problematic for marine wildlife all over the world.
“We are very happy to report that a seal named ‘Firefly’ has had a very healthy looking pup and seems to have avoided a deadly situation she found herself in this season,” wrote The Harbor Seals of Pacific Grove (HSPB) on Facebook. “Firefly is one of our regular mom seals and on April 2nd was observed entangled in some debris.”
Firefly is well-known to The Harbor Seals of Pacific Grove, a group that keeps an eye on… well, the harbor seals of Pacific Grove, California. They’ve seen her give birth many years in a row now, but this year was an alarming one.
“As she gained weight, it got tighter around her, not only endangering her but also her pup growing inside her,” the Facebook update reads. “In situations like this, you cannot just rescue them. The capture process would not only endanger her and her unborn pup, but would also frighten away all the other seals possibly causing miscarriages or other pups being abandoned. We reported our observations to The Marine Mammal Center to put this seal on their watch list for possible intervention. All we could do at this point was watch and hope for the best.”
The hope was that the plastic would come off after she delivered her pup and lost some of her girth, but no one knew for sure whether that would happen or not.
“We followed her closely from beach to beach and swim to swim,” HSPB wrote. “The BEST did happen after a prolonged labor. She gave birth to a healthy pup and nursed it. We noticed right after the birth that the debris constricting her was starting to loosen and she eventually freed herself of it.”
By the next day, Firefly was in high spirits with her new pup. She was spotted nearby, nursing and swimming with the young seal.
“You could still see the indention of where her entanglement had been but we were so happy with the best possible outcome for her and her pup,” HSPB finished. “Please remember to always pick up and take home all you bring to the beaches with you. If you see litter, please dispose of it properly to protect all our wildlife.”
