A seal pup rescued from near Kenai beach is treated by the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Program on May 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy Kaiti Grant/Alaska SeaLife Center)

A seal pup rescued from near Kenai beach is treated by the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Program on May 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy Kaiti Grant/Alaska SeaLife Center)

SeaLife Center admits abandoned harbor seal pups

Both seals were found abandoned and malnourished, and both were born prematurely

Since late April, the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Program has admitted two abandoned harbor seals on the Kenai Peninsula, the center announced Wednesday.

Both seals were found abandoned and malnourished, and both were born prematurely, the center said in a press release.

The first was admitted in Nikiski on April 24 but died within 48 hours. Necropsy revealed that the pup “was likely born weeks prematurely” and was unable to survive.

The second pup was admitted from Kenai on May 9 and is “in serious condition.” The center’s Wildlife Response Hotline was called by people working at a fish processing facility who said that a small, white-furred pup had been seen without an adult for several hours.

Any harbor seal with a white coat, according to the release, was born prematurely, as they shed the white “lanugo coat” before birth. The release notes that some other seal species in Alaska do have white coats for some time after birth.

The pup has been found to be malnourished, has low body temperature, and has exhibited “abnormal bloodwork.”

“The team is currently providing initial stabilizing treatments and examining the patient further to understand the severity of the animal’s condition,” the release reads. “Premature harbor seal pups have only about a 50% chance of survival when admitted to a wildlife response program, and the team is doing everything possible to give her a fighting chance.”

Updates on the pup’s progress will be published on the center’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.

To report an injured or stranded marine animal in Alaska, call the 24-hour Stranded Marine Animal Hotline at 1-888-744-7325.

For more information about the Alaska SeaLife Center and for continuing updates about the wildlife response patients, find “Alaska SeaLife Center” on Facebook.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Protesters stand with signs in support of federal employees, federal lands and the U.S. Constitution stand along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna protesters call for Congress to oppose executive overreach

The local display was part of a “No Kings on President’s Day” effort orchestrated by the online 50501 movement.

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Most Read