Dead Seal Vlog

[ockteby]

I have lived on both coasts 60 miles away on the East and a few blocks away on Poli Street Ventura, West Coast. The beaches are as different as anything I have seen while looking similar. My wife loves the ocean, and we walked the short distance from Poli to the beach often. By the time, we spread our blanket the fog would roll in and the temperature would drop dramatically. But over on the East, flesh eating Staphylococcus was lurking. Think I will take the Dead Seal dogs.

[ockteby]

On the east coast, I could hardly wait to get to the ocean and swim. I loved it, and one day I was talking to a lifeguard who was related to a friend. He said he would only go into the ocean to save a life or practice saving lives. This was in the 50s and he was referring to the municipalities who worked overtime keeping all the shark attacks hush hush. That was over 45 years ago, and from that day forward I just look listen and admire.

[kenrg]

Even within CA the beaches change dramatically as you head up and down the coast; one of the many reasons why I love this state (despite how our politicians try to destroy it; but that's a different vlog). I also don't mind the occasional dead seal - it's a sign of a normal, healthy beach - it's the number of them that makes me worry about something else going on out there.

As to sharks... well, I'm usually with you; on the shore watching and listening. But when I'm in Hawaii I gotta go all in.

[TinfoilHalo]

I saw a dead one too in Pacifica at Linda Mar on the 13th. It was pretty freshly dead though. I wonder what happened =(

[kenrg]

Maybe they're all getting the Swine Flu?

[CApoppy]

P.S. Not that I don't appreciate and wish to deny them their place in the scheme of things.

[kenrg]

Of course not ;^)

[CApoppy]

My yahoo screen name is not vultureview for no reason. Stuff happens. Daily we have fifteen or more vultures waiting on the county communication tower next to our house. What are we doing to make their day? We need to try to figure that out.

[kenrg]

VultureView, eh? I'm sure they find plenty of critters in the hills there. We don't have Vultures in our neighborhood, but we've had Cooper's Hawks nesting in our back yard.

[fehquig]

It must have reeked something fierce, probably like rotting lamb and fish... I feel a puke coming on just trying to imagine it!

[kenrg]

That's about right. And right after my own lunch, not the best thing for digestion.

[wogsland]

We saw one on Muir Beach in July - Zinny reaaaaaally wanted to roll on it!

[kenrg]

How's Zinny's sense of smell? Because rolling on it was pretty much the last thing on my mind...

[laur328]

I found a dead seal at a beach near Half Moon Bay a few years ago. It's sad and freaky that you saw so many at once.

[kenrg]

Right - Finding one from time to time is normal - finding half-a-dozen... puts you off your lunch.

[TamHickey67]

That is such a strange phenomenon. I blame cell phones and sonic booms from submarines. Poor wee things.

[kenrg]

Submarine booms are something I hadn't thought of, but could certainly be responsible - I wonder if there were any "exercises" going on in the area recently?

[RadicalComedy]

Very sad indeed...Kenrg, you should write a PM to National Geographic on Youtube and show them this link...Thanks for sharing...~Raven

[kenrg]

Interesting idea - I wonder if they'd know what's going on?

[cooksterz]

Aww. poor things. Im sure some local marine biologists have an explanation. The sea prolly mistakes the seals for humans, who pollute the ocean with plastic. So the seals are the scapegoats! hehe

[kenrg]

So, their last words were, "I've been framed!"? Interesting theory ... ;^)

[missdivinestalls]

I once came across a dead deer that had been hit by a car. It was haunting in that it reminded me of how fragile life is. Also deer are such gentle creatures that seeing one up close was odd.

[kenrg]

Unfortunately, where we live, seeing road kill deer is an all too common occurrence. Much better when we pass them on the road slowly and let them pass.

[thefrozenghost]

So, the fate of your sea vlog was sealed?

What? Someone had to say it.

[kenrg]

Use a pun, go to prison. It's the law.

[andymooseman]

The sea is a mysterious beast & loves to throw us a surprise every so often. That's one of the fascinations of walking on the beach. You're never quite sure what you're going to see, or find.

Here's hoping for a more upbeat beach vlog next time around :)

[askmisscris]

They appear to be at various levels of decay - looks more like natural death... nature. Its sad but it is part of life as they are now carrion for the scavenger birds.

[kenrg]

Let's put it this way: I hope it was all a natural thing. It's not too uncommon to come across one, or maybe two, carcasses along a beach like that. But not five all at once. Well, as we saw, the vultures were happy.

[Momotaro15]

I LOVE the ocean......those poor little creatures. :-(

[kenrg]

They're much more fun to run across when they're alive and frolicking. Definitely an odd day.

[SnipedownVaan40]

Something is wrong in the world when you walk down a beach and just see Sea Lions dead on the sand, with birds picking the flesh from their bones... I cry for humanity.

[kenrg]

Something definitely wrong on the planet. And it's probably us.

[SnipedownVaan40]

Well said.

[PappyStu]

The ocean is a dangerous place... Interesting video... I will see you when I get back... I hope everything goes well until then my friend...

[kenrg]

Dangerous and fascinating. It's why we love the sea.

[Nuolimieli]

Yep, enjoyed.. as much as I could. That sure was not too mundane vlog

[kenrg]

As Curt said in his comment, above, "The beach vlogs decide what the beach vlogs will be." The sea is much more powerful than any of us simple 'Tubers!

[ChristopherMast]

Weird. Vultures creep me out

[kenrg]

They only creep me out when they swoop a little too close. They were not happy with me photographing their lunch.

[myhomemovies56]

The great thing about the Dead Seal Scrolls is they verify the life of Jesus.

[kenrg]

Well, these dead seals weren't verifying much other than the hunger of the vultures. But, damn, why didn't I think of "Dead Seal Scrolls" when I was titling this thing? LMAO

[twister7boy]

werez tha danger. bellz beach is what too worry about wit their every 50 year storm. so cool. i wounder how it happend? a whale wouldnt leave that treat behind n i didnt see any oil. quick waz tha moon red last night? tha spirtz cumin alive hide! peace. gregg

[kenrg]

Hmmm... I don't think it was a red moon - I'm just glad I got away before sun set and they became zombie seals looking for human flesh to feast on!

[twister7boy]

there space monkeyz in disguise run! peace. gregg

[ThOverdrive]

Its like that show Invasion!!!

[kenrg]

I haven't seen it, but I can imagine... Maybe I'm lucky to have made it out alive!

[ThOverdrive]

lol yeah it was on for half a season a couple years ago. The just of it is that aliens lived underwater and as people entered the water they were dragged down and killed and replaced with a similar looking alien...anyway thats what I got out of it, but the show ended too prematurely to get into its real timeline. Heck we didn't even know what was replacing people.

[2redheads]

We've been smelling/seing the dead sealions at our house for a couple of months. Some days have had to close the windows (I always have them open) it's been a strange summer....

[kenrg]

Really? Wow, I haven't seen any (dead ones) up in Santa Cruz proper. Something in the water off shore maybe? Seems like far more than usual or "healthy."

[2redheads]

Really! The smell has been intense this spring/summer... Some of our regular visitors (sea lions) have not been back this year. Suspected it was something in the water... we spent little time in the ocean this year. I could be way off though...

[captainfury2007]

Circle of life. Sad, but still...

5 tho huh? Thats weird.

[kenrg]

Right, it's the number that freaked me out. You see one and you accept it and continue your walk. After five you just head back to the car and call it a day. Or a vlog.

[blackturtleshow]

I've come across a couple donkey carcasses while out hiking, but no seals out here in the desert!!! I'm still hoping to get some close ups of vultures... sooner or later!!!

[kenrg]

That would be nasty smelling, I'm sure. Good luck with that!

[sunsetlover]

I am sorry ken, I am sure this video was great just like everything else you do .... But I couldnt watch it after the 20 second mark

[kenrg]

I don't blame you - It is very disturbing. I should have put a warning at the start, sorry.

[Rikotistic]

They've been dead for a few days, it looks. I wonder if were the storm currents and large waves. Seals drown if they get trapped in storm current. At first I was thinking "Shark!" But they do have that horrid look seals get from the side-to-side biting manner of sharks. I did hear some cattle started leaping off a cliff somewhere west, and into into the ocean. It could be the crew of "TheStation" is leaving dangerous toxins behind after filming.

[kenrg]

There was too much skin and blubber left for it to have been sharks (I'd think). We haven't any storm systems too close to shore in the Monterey Bay recently, but maybe something further out did them in? Or, maybe, it was a Sea Vampire!

[Rikotistic]

I'm glad you said that. I didn't wanna say it because people would think me nuts. I suspect the possibility for sea vampires. Kenrg, are you good at editing manuscripts?????????????

[bohogirl1]

seeing the remains of any animal is very disturbing. whether because it's a reminder of mortality or that some vital being is gone.

[kenrg]

I'm used to occasionally finding the corpse of a bird or two, or sometimes a lone mammal, but never so many. Really freaky.

[jrsnyderjr]

the earth is going to take humanity and just wring us out because of what we've done to it...

one could say it's a part of nature and cycle of life blah blah blah but too often it's because of how we treat the ocean. We are not good stewards of the earth.

Coming unexpectedly on stuff like that is disconcerting.

[kenrg]

Cycle of life, fine - But I've never come across so many carcasses all at once like this. Something out of the ordinary happened here, whether by "accident" ("gosh, we didn't mean to dump that poison") or design (sick SOB getting his kicks).

[jrsnyderjr]

I did think of the "accidental poisoning" scenario but I didn't think of a sick SOB and unfortunately they're out there. It's always stomach turning when you come across scenes like that and can stick with you for awhile.

[ournationalspace]

One theory is that humans pollute the ocean with noise - (Low-Frequency Active (LFA) Sonar (among other human activity noise)- and that they drive the sea creatures to experience 'acoustic trama' - sad events you caught on video, kenrg.

[OhCurt]

I'd be freaked out too.

Of course, my first question is - what killed them? Was Exxon riding through again?

The beach vlogs decide what the beach vlogs will be - and that's freaky enough.

[kenrg]

"The beach vlogs decide what the beach vlogs will be" - How true. How weirdly true. I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

[oneiblind30]

Such is life.

[kenrg]

Such is life... and sea mammal death.

[thizizliz]

How strange! I've been there in the spring when they are all on the beach but wonder what led to their deaths. Maybe you're right to be a little spooked... Did you see Stephen King anywhere near???

[kenrg]

After I left I started wondering if foul play had been involved. I've seen lone dead sea lions and such washed up before, but not so many and in such various stages of decomposure. Really odd.

[VegetaFH1]

that disturbed my lunch... :p jk

Its not normal to find only that few, normaly it would be in the range of 15 to 20 since the sealions normaly have huge arguments on the beachside

Or maybe there wasnt families of sealions there and they washed up, but that would indicate that they were nearby, which from the video i didnt spot anything moving or "trademarK' of a sealion

Animal crualty? seems abit odd but possible

Thanks for the vid Kenrg, i will not be eating for awhile :p jk

[kenrg]

It was very odd in that there were no live ones nearby, and the half dozen dead ones were spread out over several hundred feet. Real eerie.

[VegetaFH1]

The way ur saying it makes me think that maybe one or two sealions lost their way at differant periods and washed up alive and something destructive came along and.. well.. u know

It would matter if they were young old or indifferant, if sealions got lost they would try find something warm to stay near, including other sealions, so its very strange to find them so distant like that

I believe ur instincts are correct about the fowl play, as sad as it may be it happens

Im sorry u had to see it tho