Cape Life: i see dead....marine mammals

long time, no blog.

i have been busybusybusy. LOTS of marine mammal happenings. i will highlight some:

it all started with a seal that got called in 2 tuesdays ago in yarmouth. the DNR told us that it had been attacked by a coyote....& was STILL ALIVE. so, we got in the truck to check it out. we came upon the animal in a dune on the beach. it looked like someone had been murdered, there was blood everywhere...but sure enough, it was still alive. we ultimately decided to put it down. rehab facilities do not accept animals that have been bitten by other animals because of the potential for spreading rabies. the coyote had bitten the seals neck & most of the back of its head off, leaving the skull exposed. to put the animal down though, it had to be restrained first. they picked ME to throw a towel over its head & jump on it to essentially pin it down on the ground. i started to get ready to do it, but just couldn't. i am not a huge dog person, & this thing was growling at me and trying to attack me as i got close, like a crazy dog, so i froze & instead jane jumped on it and THEN i took her place. so i am straddling over the back of this seal squeezing the sides in with my knees and trying to keep its head still by restraining its neck....kind of hard when the animal is missing most of its neck! PLUS...as a bonus, i got to stare at its exposed skull and see the muscles moving as it was growling & wigglying around & trying to get free. i truly was not enjoying myself. it finally whipped it's head around & tried to bite me. i jumped off & was done. misty took over & we put the animal down. i was actually pretty sad about this little guy that tried to bite me. i had never seen an animal be put down before, but i know that it was the right decision.

last tuesday we went on a dead animal scavenger hunt the whole day around the cape. nothing too grusome or gross, but we were going to look for a seal that had been reported as decapitated, and we pulled up and could see the back side from the road. jane & i put on our boots and were walking out to the animal, gabbing away when all of a sudden IT WHIPPED ITS HEAD AROUND AND LOOKED AT US. definitely a big surprise to find it alive -- with a head! we both were a little spooked, but got our heart rates under control and determined that it was fine. we got back to the warehouse at 5....only to get a call about a stranded dolphin in monomoy. monomoy is a group of sandbars off of chatham (the "elbow" of the cape) that you can only get to by boat! the harbormaster graciously drove us out there in his little boat as the sun was setting....not the best conditions to be saving a dolphin in. when we finally reached the animal (after zig-zagging through all the sandbars) its body was already shutting down (evident by foaming at the mouth), so again we had to put it down. this time it was a little more dramatic because the dolphin thrashed around a little bit before it finally died. THEN....we carried the 600 pound animal to the boat...in the dark....& started to navigate our way back to the main land....in the dark....without lights. we miraciously only got stuck once on a sandbar. you usually have to pay a lot of money to take boat tours through monomoy....but i got mine for FREE....in the dark. awesome.

& i am now wanting to have some interactions with LIVE animals.

this weekend we had saturday service in chatham cleaning up lighthouse beach and putting up fencing to rope off nesting areas for piping plovers, a protected animal on the cape. we then had an early st. patricks day party with some alum at the NEED house. good times.

today was had our LAST wet fest....woot woot.

& in a week alex & i will be in MONTREAL for spring break!

me, crys & sam finding dead treasures at lighthouse beach....