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Three-Week-Old Harbour Seal Pup Euthanised After Projectile Fragments Lodged in Its Brain

Very young harbour seal pup at Yaquina Head on the Oregon coast
Conservation · Threats

A three-week-old Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) pup found with a head wound near Bellingham, Washington, USA, was euthanised after CT imaging showed that fragments from the projectile had penetrated its skull and lodged in brain tissue. SR3 reported the outcome on 21 July 2026.

The pup had been found in the Smith Gardens tidal flats on 3 July and was transferred to SR3’s SeaLife Rescue Center two days later. An X-ray confirmed that it had been shot. After stabilising, the young seal became strong enough to spend time outdoors with other pups while staff assessed whether the injury could be treated.

The CT scan showed that the injury was much more severe than the two-dimensional X-ray had revealed. Projectile fragments had entered the brain, and SR3 concluded that the damage would lead to a painful, fatal infection. The veterinary team therefore euthanised the pup rather than continue treatment that could not lead to recovery.

SR3 said this was its third patient in nine months with a gunshot wound to the head; the two previous seals, both from Hood Canal, also died. Harbour seals are protected in the United States under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and SR3 described the shootings as illegal violence against protected marine mammals.

Sources and image credit

  1. SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research (SR3) — update on patient 26-24, WafflesPrimary institutional update. SR3 reported that CT imaging showed projectile fragments had penetrated the skull and lodged in brain tissue, that the injury would lead to a painful fatal infection, and that the pup was euthanised. SR3 said this was its third patient in nine months with a gunshot wound to the head.
  2. Bellingham Herald — Harbor seal pup with gunshot wound rescued in BellinghamLocal reporting based on SR3 statements. The pup was found 3 July 2026 at the Smith Gardens tidal flats, transferred to SR3 two days later, and the article was subsequently updated after the pup was euthanised on 21 July.
  3. NOAA Fisheries — Harbor SealOfficial NOAA species information used to verify federal protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Image: Meredith Matherly / Bureau of Land Management Oregon & Washington / Wikimedia Commons — very young Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) pup at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Oregon, photographed 9 September 2014. Representative healthy young pup; not the animal involved in the 2026 Bellingham shooting. · CC BY 2.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ · Source

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