Elephant seal rescued from Whidbey Island storm drain
By Q13 News Staff article
LANGLEY, Wash. - Emergency crews were called to Whidbey Island for a rescue on Tuesday, but it wasn t a human in need of a rescue.
Just before 7:30 p.m., South Whidbey Fire/EMS, the Island County Sheriff s Office and the Langley Police Department were called to Old Beach Road in the Mutiny Bay area for reports of an elephant seal caught trapped in a vault of a stormwater drainage system in the lawn of a condominium complex.
According to South Whidbey Fire/EMS, the vault is connected to Mutiny Bay by a large pipe, and the seal, known as Elwood, likely came through that pipe to get into the vault but was unable to get back to the bay that way.
Young elephant seal rescued from storm drain on Whidbey Island
Elephant seals are rare in the Puget Sound area. The seal, later named Elwood, was believed to be treading water in the drain for several hours.
Credit: South Whidbey Fire/EMS
Elwood the elephant seal was rescued from a stormwater drainage vault on south Whidbey Island. Author: KING 5 Staff Updated: 9:46 AM PDT April 29, 2021
WHIDBEY ISLAND STATION, Wash. A young elephant seal was rescued from a storm drain on Whidbey Island Tuesday by South Whidbey Fire.
A report of a seal caught in a storm drain near Old Beach Road in the Mutiny Bay area came into South Whidbey Fire/EMS (SWF) around 7:30 Tuesday evening. South Whidbey Fire, the Langley Police Department and the Orca Network arrived to find a young elephant seal trapped in a vault of a stormwater drainage system in the lawn of a condominium complex, according to SWF.
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