Spud and Neptune spent Friday at Alki Beach, napping in the sand. This was Spud's fifth morning in a row. At six weeks old, he was already an old hand. Neptune was only three or four days old, and this was his first day at the beach.

They are baby harbor seals. It's birthing season in Puget Sound.

Byron Gaines set up a perimeter around where Neptune lay with orange traffic pylons and yellow caution tape.

"I've been seeing them for the last three or four years," said Gaines, an employee with the Seattle Parks Department. "Mostly on the rocks, or at Don Armeni Park, or up by (the condominiums). But there's always a crowd of people no matter where they show up."

Brenda Peterson, a writer who lives on Alki Avenue, phoned and e-mailed volunteers to come and "seal sit." At the beach, she hushed spectators, keeping them behind the tape.

Eastern Pacific harbor seals are native to ocean waters from the Aleutian Islands to Baja California. They live and forage close to their birth grounds, although researchers have found juveniles swimming over a hundred miles to follow a run of salmon.

Mothers give birth to a single pup per a season. Seal pups can swim an hour after birth. Newborn, they measure less than three feet long and weigh about 20 pounds. When they are weaned four to six weeks later, they may have tripled their body weight.

Only 50 percent of seal pups survive their first year, according to research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Pups are sensitive to disease, infection, and lack of food. Natural predators include orcas, domestic dogs, and birds of prey.

The local population in Puget Sound is healthy, reports Kristin Wilkinson, with the National Marine Fisheries Service. In 1999, it estimated that 14,612 seals live in the waters of inland Washington.

Spud first appeared Monday, August 13, on the sand at the Alki Bathhouse. Peterson named him after the restaurant across the street. He showed up Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday too, staying longer each day.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 makes harassing a seal pup a federal offense, with fines of up $20,000 and a year in jail.

"One man just walked through the (caution) tape and grabbed Spud's flipper," Peterson said. "Some kids were throwing rocks at the seal, just to see if he was alive."

Friday morning, Spud's mother left him at the beach at about 6 a.m. Pink, silver and king salmon were running the Duwamish.

Friday was Neptune's first visit to Alki Beach. He was found at about 6:30 a.m., resting near the seawall, west of where Spud was. Noise from a garbage truck sent him back in the water and to a wider, quieter stretch of beach, about 200 feet east of the Bathhouse.

Peterson originally thought Neptune was two weeks old and undernourished. In photographs, however, Wilkinson saw the beginnings of a layer of blubber around his shoulders. She decided he just hadn't been nursing long.

Dark speckles stood out sharply against his silver fur. His newborn coat hadn't molted yet.

Seal pups, with their eyes closed, look like driftwood or large beached fish. Their speckled fur camouflages them with the gray rocks and sand. When open, seal pups have large, brown, doe-like eyes.

Each time Neptune raised his head to look back, people cooed.

Some people were concerned, even upset, by a seal lying on the beach. One woman begged Peterson to tell her that, when the pup rolled over, it didn't mean it was about to die.

A pup is too small to keep up with its mother while she forages for fish. She will put her pup out of the water on a protected beach, called a "haul-out," where it can rest.

Hauling out also allows the pup to regulate its body temperature, warming itself on dry sand in the sun.

When the mother returns, she won't come on the beach. She will call her pup to the water and find a more secluded haul-out where they will nurse.

Seals are clumsy on land and pups may be too young to fear humans. The Fisheries Service recommends people stay 100 yards away.

Seal pups are not considered abandoned until after 24 to 48 hours, says Wilkinson, who works as a coordinator for the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

Each pup found is treated on a case-by-case basis: Is it plump, or are his ribs visible? Is the umbilical cord present? How active and alert is it?

If the seal pup appears sick or starved, Wilkinson said she might authorize veterinarians to pick it up. They'll sample blood, test for diseases, and assess whether the pup is dehydrated or starved. Since harbor seals carry pathogens contagious to humans and dogs, a sick pup may have to be euthanized.

Veterinarians return rehabilitated pups to the haul-out nearest where the pup was originally found. There it will learn foraging skills from other seals.

"Our approach, usually, is to let nature take its course," Wilkinson said.

The best thing to do is leave the seal pup alone.

Late Friday morning kayakers paddled too closely. Spud dove back into the surf and swam to the rocks at the east end of the beach. A car stereo scared him from there.

Spud disappeared into the water around 1:30 p.m.

Just after 4, Neptune whipped his head up, turned and edged himself into the water. Peterson scanned the water with her binoculars. Neptune's head poked out of the water about a hundred feet from shore, then he disappeared.

Peterson left the pylons and tape standing. She wanted to leave Neptune a protected place where he could return.

On Saturday morning, volunteers walking Alki didn't find any pups hauled out that day. Somehow, the seals knew weekend volleyball tournaments and rock music were not conducive to resting.

But Peterson and Wilkinson expect to see more harbor seal pups at Alki.

Birthing season in Puget Sound lasts through September.

Matthew E. Miller is an Alki resident who can be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com

Miller: short seal pups page 2 of 3

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