[Paddlewise] seal of approval

The local paper had an interesting story this evening.


    In 1999 a kayaker in Prince William sounds found what he thought was an
abandoned harbor seal pup. (it probably was not abandoned!) the kayaker
carried the seal around in his kayak for four days feeding it peanut butter
and powered milk.


    Eventually the seal was taken to a wildlife center in Seward to be treated
for a sever intestinal infection from eating human food (no big surprise). She
was nick name Skippy (for the peanut butter) and released as a health 60-70
pound juvenile at Aialik near Kenia. 


    Appearently Skippy has been getting a little too cozy with kayakers. One
kayaker reported the seal hanging out just a couple feet from his boat for
four hours and even  climbing  up on the back of his boat.  The seal was
idenified by it's tag as "Skippy". 


    The anchorage daily news 8/29/00 featured a picture of the seal on the
back of a kayak!  the URL of the paper is www.adn.com. the story is listed
under the news section under the catagory of "science".


    Many are now concerned that when this too friendly seal gets bigger
(150-200 pounds) that it's attempts to climb on to a kayak could prove
dangerous to a kayaker.


    The whole story raises several ethical issues, including


-our impact upon the enviornment


- the effect of kayaking amid wildlife


-educating ourselves to animal behavior (i.e. abandoned animal often are not
abandoned)


-what to do if an animal is in need of rescue


-and last of all, what kinhd of brace is best when a seal tries to climb into
your lap.





Happy paddling!


bob


sitka





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