DES MOINES, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A seal pup has died after being found with a gunshot wound near Bellingham.

SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research (SR3) Executive Director Casey Mclean says the pup was humanely euthanized.

A CT scan revealed that a BB pellet made of soft led had penetrated the pup’s skull and lodged into its brain tissue.

Mclean said there was no hope of recovery.

My Bellingham Now previously reported the pup was found with a head wound in the Smith Gardens tidal flats near the Bellingham International Airport over the Fourth of July weekend.

The Whatcom Humane Society brought it in before handing it over to SR3’s Rescue Center in Des Moines.

According to Mclean, it’s the third seal that SR3 has treated for a gunshot wound this year, with the other two instances having been adults that also did not survive.

But she says this case was the first pup they’ve ever treated for a gunshot wound.

Mclean says SR3 research shows there have been 85 cases of pinnipeds, or seals and sea lions, being shot in the national database since 2021.

The Bellingham Herald was first to report the pup being euthanized.