A seal pup has been euthanized after being found with a gunshot wound to the head. Though the animal initially appeared to be stable, further scans revealed that it would be unable to survive the wound.
The three-week-old pup, known as Number 24, was being treated at SR3, a Washington-based marine animal hospital that cares for orphaned and injured harbor seal pups. Over the Fourth of July weekend, it was rescued from Bellingham, Washington, after being found with a head wound. During an initial exam, x-rays revealed a 7mm bullet lodged above the pup’s skull.
Though the pup’s condition was critical, it initially seemed to be responding to care. After specialized treatment in the SR3 surgery suite, he was getting stronger and eventually brought outside with the other seal pups at the facility.
However, a CT scan Friday revealed that there were also bullet fragments in the seal’s brain tissue. As a result, SR3 determined that the pup would never recover well enough to survive in the wild and decided to humanely euthanize the animal.
According to SR3, this was the third time in less than a year an animal has admitted to the rescue center with a gunshot wound to the head. “We have seen lots of animals that wash up deceased, often where we discovered they had been shot,” SR3 executive director and veterinary nurse Casey McLean, told KOMO. “However, what is new is to see these animals that are surviving the gunshot and coming in and suffering, which is very unfortunate and, frankly, disturbing.”
