PORT ANGELES — A juvenile elephant seal wedged between a log and an algae mat on Hollywood Beach is probably beginning to molt, said Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Research Coordinator Ed Bowlby.
“This is normal,” Bowlby said Thursday. “It’s likely going into molt and could be here for a few weeks.”
The seal will “go into the water when it wants to” and does not need food or water, he said.
It should be left alone, he cautioned.
“Any interaction would be bad for it and bad for the people,” Bowlby said.
Seals can transmit diseases to people or to their pets, and vice versa, he said.
“It also can bite,” he said.
The seal was reported to the sanctuary, which is based in Port Angeles, on Tuesday, said Bowlby, who has not yet determined its gender.
It is at the far side on the beach from the stairs, out of the reach of usual activity.
“It’s not obvious. You have to be looking for it to see it,” he said.
Arthur D. Feiro Marine Life Center volunteers erected a sign warning onlookers to keep their distance from the animal.
Both center and sanctuary personnel are monitoring it, and reports are being made to the Northwest Stranding Network.
The seal probably is not the same male juvenile elephant seal that came ashore at Hollywood Beach in January, Bowlby said.
That seal had a cataract in one eye.
This seal does not.
