Many Baby Seals in California Killed by High Tides and Strong Storms

VIVA – Numerous baby elephant seals at the Piedras Blancas Rookery, North of San Simeon, California, were killed by January’s high tides and a strong storm in the area. It made in many newborn baby seals dying and washed away.

In the days before the king tides, other seal pups were washed away by the relentless rainstorms that soaked California throughout January. The elephant seals who gave birth before the storms likely lost their pups, as few baby elephant seals remained on the rookery’s beached by mid-January.

The exact number of January baby seal deaths at the Piedras Blancas Rookery is still being calculated, marine mammal ecologists told the Sacramento Bee. It is known, newborn elephant seals are particularly vulnerable to getting washed away because they can't swim on their own until they are several weeks old.

Mother elephant seals often try to put their body between their babies and turbulent waves, but January's stronger storms made it more difficult for mother seals to protect their children. Unfortunately, the looming threat of bad weather isn't over.

“We are very concerned about elephant seal pups over these next few storms. I can say this year’s mortality rate so far is more than what we normally see,” a Point Reyes National Seashore marine ecologist, Sarah Codde stated.

Still, the situation could improve as pregnant seals will continue to arrive at the California rookery and give birth throughout the winter.

Point Reyes National Seashore spokesperson Christine Beekman told McClatchy News they are "cautiously optimistic" that the pup count will rise again.