SEATTLE The turtle had been floating helpless for so long, its head and shell were grown over with algae. Its body temperature had cratered, and it was so weak it could barely move.
In a flash of white out of the blue, a beluga whale has been seen at least six times around Puget Sound since Sunday, the first such sightings since 1940. It began Oct. 3 with a report from the south end of Fox Island, then another from Point.
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Reedsport to Brookings, places to stay; winter deals
The aquarium s Tiffany Boothe said they received the call about 11 a.m. on Saturday that a fur seal was resting on the beach. Responding to the scene shortly after, the crew found the seal high up on a rock just beyond the tideline, forcing them to wait until low tide to retrieve the animal. It was entangled in a sizable net, causing it obvious distress.
“Once the rock became accessible they were able to safely get to the animal, capture it, and place it in an animal carrier for transport,” Boothe said. “The fur seal will be transported to a licensed rehabilitation facility for a full veterinary health assessment, disentanglement, and stabilization. If all goes as planned, the animal will be released back into the ocean once it is healthy.”