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Why Is It Illegal to Touch a Seal?

Cover of the Short: Why Is It Illegal to Touch a Seal?▶ Watch the Short

The answer

In the US, the Marine Mammal Protection Act bans any "take" of a marine mammal, and "take" includes harassment: anything that disturbs it resting or nursing. A pup resting alone isn't abandoned, but one that's handled may be. NOAA's guidance: stay at least 100 yards back.

Sources (4)

  1. 16 U.S.C. §1362(13): "take" means "to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, or attempt to…"; §1362(18)(A): harassment includes any act that "disturbs or is likely to disturb a marine mammal… by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including… nursing… sheltering". https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/1362
  2. 16 U.S.C. §1372(a): taking marine mammals is unlawful except as the Act allows. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/1372
  3. 16 U.S.C. §1375: civil penalty up to $10,000 per violation (inflation-adjusted since; NOAA 2020: "up to $28,520 per count"), criminal up to $20,000 and 1 year. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/1375
  4. NOAA Fisheries, "Disturbing beach wildlife risks their lives" (10 Jun 2020): "stay at least 100 yards from seals and sea lions"; resting pups alone "does not mean the pups are abandoned"; "Pups taken from and then returned to the beach may be abandoned by their mothers." https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/disturbing-beach-wildlife-risks-their-lives

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