Harbor seal goes home after four months in the hospital
Nov 3, 2026, 6:14 PM
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
Puget Sound now has a new tenant: a rehabbed harbor seal named Machaca!
SR-3 Executive Director Casey McLean tells us the seal was only about a week old when he was found stuck in a boat exhaust pipe in Olympia’s West Bay Marina.
Andi Gero and her team with Cascadia Research Collective were called in July to rescue the seal after marina staff heard the cries.
“Harbor seals are non-vocal except when they’re pups, so they heard this pup crying and crying,” Gero said. “This seal was actually about six feet into the exhaust of a 32-foot yacht”
Gero said that, with the help of tools from animal control, they were able to get the seal out a few hours after arriving.
McLean told us the baby seal was a healthy weight but had been abandoned by his mom while he was stuck. They also were worried about any damage to his lungs while in the pipe.
He went through several rounds of testing at the SR-3 facility in Des Moines.
“We were looking for inflammation or potential infection in those areas as we were concerned the animal inhaled fumes,” McLean said. “We could see and hear evidence of that on the scans”
She said he quickly improved after getting lung and nebulizer treatments, similar to a human’s asthma treatment, but after a few weeks they noticed a new issue.
McLean told us he developed head tremors towards the end of July, but after about a month the issue resolved itself. Just to be sure he really was healthy, she said they kept him for monitoring until October 31.
Now, Machaca is a perfectly healthy harbor seal!
He was released onto a small beach at Dash Point State Park on Saturday morning around 9:30 a.m.
KIRO 7’s Brooke Griffin was invited to watch the special moment.
He was very hesitant to leave the crate at first. When he did, he took a lot of time to take in his surroundings, looking at the water, the people nearby, and the beach.
“Every seal is different; sometimes the second you open the cage door they make a run for the water, sometimes they really take their time, you just never know,” McLean said.
She said the release is the most special part of rehabbing a seal, watching them realize there is a big bright world beyond the SR-3 facility pools.
“This is what we work for. Months of care, and the cleaning and feeding our 250 volunteers do … this is the ultimate moment to get them back to the ocean,” McLean said.
Gero said when a seal is in trouble, like Machaca was, it’s important to report it immediately.
“It’s very important to have the professionals do it, or occasionally if it’s a life-or-death situation, we can authorize and walk someone through it over the phone, but we have to be on the phone with them,” Gero said.
McLean told us SR-3 has roughly 20 more patients to release this season, which means 20 more newly healthy seals will soon hop on home!
