{"id":531365,"date":"2026-07-17T22:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531365\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:35:30","slug":"harbor-seal-pup-with-gunshot-wound-recovering-after-rescue-from-bellingham-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531365\/","title":{"rendered":"Harbor seal pup with gunshot wound recovering after rescue from Bellingham beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

A harbor seal pup is receiving treatment after it was discovered with a gunshot wound in the Smith Gardens tidal flats north of downtown Bellingham.<\/p>\n

Casey Mclean, veterinary nurse and executive director of the nonprofit SR3 (Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research<\/a>), said the animal was taken in by the Whatcom Human Society July 3 with a head wound. The pup was stabilized and transferred to SR3’s Rescue Center in Des Moines, Wash., two days later.<\/p>\n

It was only then, after a radiograph was taken of the seal’s skull, that veterinarians learned the animal had been shot.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A harbor seal pup is recovering after being found on a beach with a gunshot wound to its head over the 2026 4th of July weekend in Bellingham, Wash.<\/p>\n

Mclean said the pup is stable, and SR3 will be conducting a CT scan Friday to determine whether surgery will be needed to remove the projectile. She explained that seals would still be nursing at this age, so the animal is being tube-fed and given pain medication and antibiotics.<\/p>\n

She said the seal is “healing quite well,” and SR3 is hopeful that he will be returned to the wild.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A harbor seal pup is recovering after being found on a beach with a gunshot wound to its head over the 2026 4th of July weekend in Bellingham, Wash.<\/p>\n

This pup is the third one to be treated for a gunshot wound by SR3 in less than a year. Mclean said that this rise in shootings is likely due to misinformation about seals affecting salmon recovery.<\/p>\n

Seals and sea lions are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act<\/a>, and shooting one carries consequences of up to a year in jail<\/a> and civil penalties greater than $29,000. Alaska Natives are exempt from these laws under specific circumstances.<\/p>\n

A new bill<\/a> introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 9 would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act<\/a> to allow for the taking of pinnipeds, which include seals and sea lions, on the Columbia River and its tributaries to protect endangered salmon and other fish.<\/p>\n

Mclean urged Washingtonians to reach out to their representatives about the bill.<\/p>\n

“The science is very clear that killing seals and sea lions will not recover our salmon populations,” Mclean said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A harbor seal pup is receiving treatment after it was discovered with a gunshot wound in the Smith…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[32686,262234,262230,262235,111,139,69,262237,147,91799,262231,262232,262236,262233,406],"class_list":["post-531365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-casey-mclean","tag-downtown-bellingham","tag-gunshot-wound","tag-marine-mammal-protection-act","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rehabilitation-and-research","tag-science","tag-seals-and-sea-lions","tag-sr3","tag-sr3s-rescue-center","tag-veterinary-nurse","tag-whatcom-human-society","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}