Arlene and James Pelley usually enjoy their regular walks along Griffin Drive, but one jaunt last week was enough to turn their stomachs.
The Massey Drive couple typically park their car near the intersection with the Lewin Parkway and walk all the way down to the concrete slipway located just past Water Street before looping back to their vehicle.
Last Thursday, when they walked down towards the beach and the slipway, they came across an unsightly mess. Strewn all over the boat launch and the surrounding beach rocks were dozens of seal flippers.
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The Pelleys estimated there were enough sets of flippers to represent around three dozen animals. Many of them were small, suggesting the seals from which they belonged were relatively young ones.
“My brother used to hunt seals all the time and I’ve seen some really big flippers,” said James. “These looked to me like they were not pups, but probably just yearlings. Every one of them was grey.”
The precisely straight cuts on the flesh and bones also indicated they were likely cut off by some sharp-edged blade.
Bottom line for the Pelleys was these seals did not meet a natural death.
“Somebody must have dumped these here because there were so many of them,” said Arlene. “I don’t think if this was done at sea or somewhere else in the bay that they would all wash up in the same place like this.
“If you didn’t look closely, you might not notice them because they blended in with the rocks but, when you looked, it was littered with them.”
While the area smelled really bad, the Pelleys said the flippers looked fairly fresh and seemed to still be in the early stages of decomposition.
“Nothing had chewed on them,” said James. “There may have been three or four seagulls around, but you’d think there would be more than that there if those flippers had been there any length of time.”
There was evidence the area had not just been used for dumping seal flippers. Nearby were the rib cage and spine of a larger animal, possibly a young moose or caribou. The Pelleys said they had seen a pile of moose fur and flesh discarded there last year.
They don’t know if the seals were killed legally or not, but the Pelleys were pretty sure there must be regulations against dumping this sort of animal waste in an area where the public accesses the Humber Arm to launch watercraft.
“There has to be a better way to dispose of this stuff,” said James.
The Western Star attempted to reach officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans about this incident Saturday, but there was no reply as of deadline.
