Life on the North Shore often ends up looking like a scene from a David Attenborough documentary.
That was the case for North Vancouver resident Debbie Martin who witnessed the struggle between life and death play out as she enjoyed a summer evening on the waterfront July 13.
Martin watched and snapped photos as a harbour seal gave birth to a pup aboard a float at Mosquito Creek Marina and then come under attack by a bald eagle.
“The eagle was harassing the mom, trying to get to the afterbirth or trying to get to the baby. The mom was there tapping the baby and shuffling the baby around trying to keep the eagle away from it,” Martin said.
After an hour and a half of putting up with the bombardment, the mom went into the water and the pup followed. The eagle was left to eat the afterbirth and Martin went home to tend to her own young.
“They’re big enough now, eagles can’t eat them. Darn,” she said with a laugh.
When Martin saw the North Shore News story about an abandoned seal pup being rescued by Vancouver Aquarium staff on Wednesday, she put two and two together.
“I’m positive, looking at the markings, it looks like exactly the same pup,” she said.
