Two Mammals, Bitten by Shark, Found on Oregon Beaches

Some great white sharks do wander around the waters off Oregon, but not too many, officials said.

Photo courtesy: Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium

(SEASIDE, Ore. ) - It’s been a busy weekend on the north Oregon coast, with two mammals washed up with appear to be major shark bites.

Friday, a dead harbor seal drifted onto the beach at Seaside, with a two-foot chunk taken out of its back. And since Saturday, an extremely unhappy California Sea Lion has been resting on a beach with a sizable wound.

In both cases, officials believe it was a shark – likely a great white shark.

The harbor seal washed up on Friday morning at Seaside, sporting a gaping hole in its back. Staff at the Seaside Aquarium immediately surmised it was a shark bite, and most likely that of a great white.

The seal was about four and a half feet long, and a full-grown adult, probably around six years old.

“It could have been an orca,” said Chandler. “But it’s more likely a shark. A killer whale would likely mess the thing up a lot more, or eat the whole thing.”

The gap had a somewhat unusual placement in the body. “They often swim upside down, so they probably weren’t paying attention when the shark came down on it,” Chandler said. “I’ve never seen a hole that big in a seal.”

“The entire backbone is gone,” said Tiffany Boothe, with the aquarium and the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. “It hasn’t been dead very long, either. You can tell by the eyes still having some color and still being there.”

Meanwhile, a full-grown sea lion has been nursing itself on a beach with a shark bite in lower back area (Chandler would not identify the beach where it’s resting to keep the public away).

“It’s one disgruntled sea lion,” Chandler said. “I couldn’t get too close to look at the wound ‘cause it threatened to bite me.”

The tear is mostly in the fur of the sea lion, about one foot across, with some of the flesh torn. It is, however, very infected and obviously causing the creature considerable pain.

“It’s oozing a lot of green infection,” Chandler said. “It’s clearly been dealing with that wound for some time.”

Some great whites do wander around the waters off Oregon, but not too many, said Boothe. She believes the warm waters that happened this summer brought more of them closer to shore, so more attacks may be seen.

Is this a cause for alarm, especially since this time of year brings in the best waves for surfers?

No, say Boothe and Chandler. “This amount of activity seems a bit unusual,” Chandler said. “But you’re still 100 times more likely to be in a car wreck on the way to the coast. If you’re a surfer, just be aware. There does seem to be a large predator working the north Oregon coast. But sharks always have living around us. I know if I were a surfer, it wouldn’t stop me. That’s just one of the risks they know they take.”

Source: BeachConnection.net