A young harbor seal pup was found Sept. 28 beheaded and skinned in a beach parking lot next to the Fort Worden State Park wharf.

The incident is believed to have occurred between 3:30 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 27 and when the remains were discovered at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday Sept. 28.

The pup was reported by a beach walker early Wednesday morning to Chrissy McLean, who is the principle investigator for the East Jefferson County Marine Mammal Stranding Network, run by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. The seal pup's remains were found in the grass next to the parking lot at the foot of the Marine Science Center's wharf.

"It's normal to see newly weaned seal pups resting on shore this time of year," said McLean. "We do sometimes see animals that have died and been fed upon by scavengers, but this is obviously a case of human interaction."

McLean contacted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. A WDFW officer checked out the scene and opened an investigation.

All marine mammals are federally protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and it is illegal to harvest or possess marine mammal parts without a permit.

McLean said the seal pup's carcass had obviously been worked on with a sharp knife. All of its fir had been removed except for on the rear flippers.

Killer whales can peel a seal's skin inside out, "but we would see bite marks and broken bones and a tearing of the pelt and we see none of that," she noted. "It looked like someone had cut the pelt off of it."

Information on the case or suspicious behavior can be directly reported to the NOAA enforcement hotline at 1-800-853-1964. Reports on stranded marine mammals or questions about marine mammal behavior can be left on the EJCMMSN reporting line at 360-385-5582 x103.