She'll be a broken seal on a Halifax pier..........................................
- Thread starter Nuggler
- Start date
It's all fun 'n games until something like this happens. Make no mistake Seals are dangerous and many here consider them to be vermin-myself included.
Seal pulls 5-year-old from dock: B.C. father
A harbour seal leapt from the water and dragged a five-year-old girl off a dock at a marina in West Vancouver on Tuesday, according to the child's father.
Mike Cunning said he was cleaning fish at the Thunderbird Marina on Marine Drive, just east of Horseshoe Bay, when he heard a splash.
"And I looked over and my daughter had disappeared, and I thought, well, Caleigh has fallen into the water. She has her life jacket on, so she'll just pop back up to the surface," Cunning said.
But it was few seconds before his daughter surfaced about two metres from where she fell in.
"When she popped to the surface, she said, 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, the seal!' and I said, 'What?'" he said.
A neighbour on a nearby boat then told Cunning a seal had jumped out of the water and pulled Caleigh from the dock.
"This thing must have taken a running start to be able to launch itself four feet out of the water, grab a 50-pound five-year-old and then drag her underneath the water with a life-jacket on," Cunning said.
Puncture wounds
He initially thought his daughter's hand was broken because it was badly swollen and bleeding with four large puncture wounds at the base of her wrist.
'Thank God she had the life-jacket on. I can't imagine what would have happened.'
— Caleigh's father, Mike Cunning
The little girl was traumatized and taken to the hospital to be treated for the puncture wounds, but is otherwise OK, Cunning said.
Caleigh had been feeding the seals at the fish cleaning station earlier in the day, and Cunning said that's why he suspects it attacked his daughter.
After the incident, she told her father she thought it was very rude of the seal not to ask if she wanted to go for a swim, and she doesn't want to feed the seal or be its friend anymore.
Two harbour seals keep watch from a rock in Jervis Inlet along B.C.'s coast. (Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)Cunning said he has heard of seals attacking small dogs on leashes and dragging them into the water to eat them, but never attacking a child.
"Thank God she had the life-jacket on. I can't imagine what would have happened," he said.
Harbour seals can reach up to 1.8 metres in length and 130 kilograms, and are considered curious and intelligent. Their normal diet is mostly fish and shellfish.
Seal pulls 5-year-old from dock: B.C. father
A harbour seal leapt from the water and dragged a five-year-old girl off a dock at a marina in West Vancouver on Tuesday, according to the child's father.
Mike Cunning said he was cleaning fish at the Thunderbird Marina on Marine Drive, just east of Horseshoe Bay, when he heard a splash.
"And I looked over and my daughter had disappeared, and I thought, well, Caleigh has fallen into the water. She has her life jacket on, so she'll just pop back up to the surface," Cunning said.
But it was few seconds before his daughter surfaced about two metres from where she fell in.
"When she popped to the surface, she said, 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, the seal!' and I said, 'What?'" he said.
A neighbour on a nearby boat then told Cunning a seal had jumped out of the water and pulled Caleigh from the dock.
"This thing must have taken a running start to be able to launch itself four feet out of the water, grab a 50-pound five-year-old and then drag her underneath the water with a life-jacket on," Cunning said.
Puncture wounds
He initially thought his daughter's hand was broken because it was badly swollen and bleeding with four large puncture wounds at the base of her wrist.
'Thank God she had the life-jacket on. I can't imagine what would have happened.'
— Caleigh's father, Mike Cunning
The little girl was traumatized and taken to the hospital to be treated for the puncture wounds, but is otherwise OK, Cunning said.
Caleigh had been feeding the seals at the fish cleaning station earlier in the day, and Cunning said that's why he suspects it attacked his daughter.
After the incident, she told her father she thought it was very rude of the seal not to ask if she wanted to go for a swim, and she doesn't want to feed the seal or be its friend anymore.
Two harbour seals keep watch from a rock in Jervis Inlet along B.C.'s coast. (Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)Cunning said he has heard of seals attacking small dogs on leashes and dragging them into the water to eat them, but never attacking a child.
"Thank God she had the life-jacket on. I can't imagine what would have happened," he said.
Harbour seals can reach up to 1.8 metres in length and 130 kilograms, and are considered curious and intelligent. Their normal diet is mostly fish and shellfish.
There's no doubt that was an issue @ that particular marina and there are signs up warning people not to feed the rats.
Another marina in the same hood used to sell Seal food-I'm not making this up-until someone called the law on them-anything for a buck those guys.
Oh well.... I had multiple families of raccoons hanging around me over the years, starting back at my dad's house.
They kept destroying our garbage and scattering it all over the place no matter what we did, so one day my dad just decided to leave all the food scraps and such in a bowl next to the garbage bags, rather than just tossing them in the bags.... never touched the bags since, they clean it all up, and then wander off.
Makes it easy for them, makes it easy for us.... everybody's happy.
Had them coming generation after generation each year, bringing their little ones along.... hand feed them some crunchy peanut butter on bread by hand.... of course you'd keep your distance and not be an idiot like trying to pick them up and cuddle them... they're still wild, but they knew their boundaries and we knew ours.
My Grade 4 Teacher/Principal had a family of raccoons that she made a shed for, which roamed around her like pets day and night.... they didn't like anybody else, but they liked her.
Most animals can sense your intentions and whether or not you're a threat and to a degree, there can be a "limited" bond between human and wild animal.... but over step your boundaries and they'll take your throat off your neck.
Here in Melbourne, I've got a Possum that hangs in the trees around the apartment building, who during the night time when I'm bringing in the cloths from the line, well saunter along the fence, 2 feet away from me as he heads off to his routine tree climbing for food..... I can be feet away and take pictures with my phone as he just sits there in the branches, eating away.... though someone else comes along and he wanders further into the tree, or hops onto the roof.
Though if you PO one of those possums, they'll make noises like the friggin Predator..... just waiting for the laser sight and shoulder cannon to pop out.
Not all seals are evil and must be destroyed and I don't have any issue with them... but their population does need to be kept in check, much like the population of kangaroo here in Australia..... I think they're pretty cool, but I also understand that they need some control on their population.
But that's another subject I suppose.
They kept destroying our garbage and scattering it all over the place no matter what we did, so one day my dad just decided to leave all the food scraps and such in a bowl next to the garbage bags, rather than just tossing them in the bags.... never touched the bags since, they clean it all up, and then wander off.
Makes it easy for them, makes it easy for us.... everybody's happy.
Had them coming generation after generation each year, bringing their little ones along.... hand feed them some crunchy peanut butter on bread by hand.... of course you'd keep your distance and not be an idiot like trying to pick them up and cuddle them... they're still wild, but they knew their boundaries and we knew ours.
My Grade 4 Teacher/Principal had a family of raccoons that she made a shed for, which roamed around her like pets day and night.... they didn't like anybody else, but they liked her.
Most animals can sense your intentions and whether or not you're a threat and to a degree, there can be a "limited" bond between human and wild animal.... but over step your boundaries and they'll take your throat off your neck.
Here in Melbourne, I've got a Possum that hangs in the trees around the apartment building, who during the night time when I'm bringing in the cloths from the line, well saunter along the fence, 2 feet away from me as he heads off to his routine tree climbing for food..... I can be feet away and take pictures with my phone as he just sits there in the branches, eating away.... though someone else comes along and he wanders further into the tree, or hops onto the roof.
Though if you PO one of those possums, they'll make noises like the friggin Predator..... just waiting for the laser sight and shoulder cannon to pop out.
Not all seals are evil and must be destroyed and I don't have any issue with them... but their population does need to be kept in check, much like the population of kangaroo here in Australia..... I think they're pretty cool, but I also understand that they need some control on their population.
But that's another subject I suppose.