A baby Guadalupe fur seal was rescued Friday morning at a beach on the Oregon Coast.
Seaside Aquarium staff were called at 9 a.m. about an abandoned seal pup on the beach. The pup was thin and dehydrated and "a bit out of its normal range," the aquarium said in a social media post.
Guadalupe fur seals are a threatened species native to the coasts of Northern Mexico and Southern California. With an estimated population of only 34,000, staffers said they are a rare sight for Oregon.
The seal was successfully recovered in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Sealife, a rehabilitation facility in Des Moines, Wash.
The seal took a nap at the Seaside Aquarium and was given fluids before being transferred to Sealife. Once stable, the seal will be moved to a rehabilitation facility in California and will hopefully be released.
The species was hunted throughout the 1800s and nearly became extinct, the aquarium said, but has been legally protected in the U.S. and Mexico since the 1950s.
