What do a crow and a glossy-eyed harbor seal named Monty have in common? Us.
What do a crow and a glossy-eyed harbor seal named Monty have in common?
Us.
Oftentimes, human interaction with animals is for the worse. But when it comes to animal rehabbers, the interaction is meant to get the animal back on its feet—or paws or claws or flippers—and release them back into the wild. Chip Harshaw, VP of Animal Care at The Virginia Aquarium, takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour to meet Monty and dives into the good, the bad, and the downright heart-melting aspects of human/animal relationships.
A few curiosities you’ll uncover in this episode:
Did You Know?
Harbor seals enjoy posing on coastal rocks like blubbery land bananas—Google “harbor seal banana” to experience the full glory.
Curious State is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast hosted and produced by Doug Fraser.
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Doug
How do you know if a crow is male or female? You don't, not without a DNA test. That's how the Virginia Aquarium found out that the CRO that greets you near their first exhibit is female. But by the time they found that out, they'd already named her. Wait for it. Russell Crowe.
Michelle
She is sassy. She’s a sassy old lady,
Doug
That’s Michelle Suzhou. She's the senior curator of animal ambassadors and mammals at the Virginia Aquarium. We're all wearing a mask. So please excuse that muffled sound of safety.
Michelle
So one thing about Russell is you'll notice that she is in this enclosure, she actually has some physical issues. She has severe arthritis. And so for her safety, we keep her a little bit in an area that she can't hurt herself.
Doug
Does Russell have any bird friends that visit with her?
Michelle
Crows, for the most part are solitary animals, you'll see what they call “murders”, which is large amount of crows, or if there's only like two or three, then that's an “attempted murder”. But for the most part, crows like to be with crows, they don't care for any other animal species.
Doug
But that doesn't keep Russell from chatting up the human guests. As you can hear, she has a lot to say.
Michelle
And one thing about Russell is she was habituated to people. When she was a fledgling. She came into the rehab as a tiny little bird. And because crows are extremely intelligent, she started to see a person get her food, which means that she became habituated to him. So she would go out when she would get released. She wouldn't know how to be a crow, she always wanted to be with people, which means she couldn't be released out into the wild.
Chip
Maybe an animal's been hit by a car or whatever. They're turned over to a rehabber.
Doug
That's Chip Harshaw, He's the VP of animal care. He's been working at the Virginia Aquarium for 26 years. In that time, he's worked with countless species, including other rescue animals like Russell.
Chip
The rehabber will take them as far as they can go. But eventually they have to make a decision. Where can we place this animal? If we can't place this animal, then what?
Doug
Well, then the unfortunate result might be euthanasia. Russell was lucky to find a home at the aquarium with caretakers who can help her live a happy, healthy life. And she's also able to act as an ambassador for both her species and for animals who require lifelong care. But what if the unreleasable animal isn't a one pound crow? What if instead, let's say it's a 100 pound glossy eyed young harbor seal named Monty. In that case, you hope to find somewhere with the knowledge resources and availability before it's too late. I'm Doug Fraser, and this is Curious State. First things first, what does the harbor seal look like? Imagine a large spotted seal. Monty is still young, but as an adult, he can grow up to 370 pounds and six feet long. Like all true seals, harbor seals have no outer ears. And they're real thick. Basically, they're a sweet potato with a rounded head and web flippers. They're fast and graceful swimmers, but on land, they're beautifully chunky bodies squirm along like caterpillars. Most of the time, they're out hunting for their favorite fish or posing on coastal rocks like a blubbery land banana. Go ahead, Google harbor seal banana to experience it in its full glory. Okay, I don't want to leave you hanging about Monty any longer. So, spoiler alert, he found a home at the Virginia Aquarium, but that's still no guarantee that things will work out. After his initial training, the ultimate test is getting along with his new roommates, to adult harbor seals named Hector and Rudder. I stopped by the Virginia Aquarium to meet little Monty and also the wonderful staff who have taken him under their collective wing. But first Michelle, Chip, and I have to get to Monty. On our way we pass a ton of amazing animal exhibits. What are those fish there with the long snouts?
Chip
There's different species of gar and I think these are longnose gar. Softshell turtle over there. These guys are really important. They're all native to here. We have green tree frogs here, we have gray treefrogs in here, and if you look around here, it's very humid in here.
Doug
The humidity is so high that inside of the glass there's this thin layer of condensation in where the sticky footed frogs and pressed themselves against the glass, the left behind a print. They look a lot like little snow angels but in the form of Reese's cup sized frog angels. Angelic amphibians. Now maybe I'm getting a little swept up in things here but being so close to these animals, it feels impossible not to.
Michelle
Let’s get going, so we do not miss our date with Monty.
Chip
We have sharks and sea turtles this way but we're just going to cut right through since the plan was to meet Monty.
Doug
We make our way up a metal grade staircase and into an enclosed room. To the right side there's a deep pool. And then the water is a dark gray spotted head and beady black eyes. It's Monty. He's just there floating in the water and watching us as we come in.
Chip
He is an incredible animal but it's a classic example of, you know, you shouldn't have to be here.
Doug
Here's how Monty went from living his days nomming on fish and wandering the wild to living here. Our story takes us 600 miles north to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a city with quaint seafood shacks, villages teeming with summer tourists, and lighthouses out the ying yang. Back in mid 2021, in one of those quaint villages lived a local person who shall remain anonymous. And in that anonymous garage of that anonymous person, in a spot where their anonymous car had been parked, sat of fat, cute, and wild harbor seal named Monty.
Chip
What happened was when he was born, a well intentioned but misinformed individual decided to render assistance to a seal that we don't even know if he needed help. All we know is that the person took him physically from wherever he was, took him home, and tried to care for him. But the national Marine Life Center found out about that in some way, and that that's illegal, what happened. So he was taken from this person, taking them to the Marine Life Center, where they ensure he was healthy, and went through a process of rehabilitation, which is feeding and making sure that his health is good. But when you feed a wild animal with the idea of releasing them into the wild, they don't hand feed where he's right there and all that you and form a bond, it's done kind of stay behind a barrier where you can't really see where the food's coming from, we don't want him to associate food with humans, like with Russell.
Doug
That Splash sound was Monty. Apparently, the kid loves attention. And we weren't giving him enough. So he tried to splash us.
Michelle
When he does something like that, somewhere, somebody gave him attention. And he knows that when I do that, I get attention.
Chip
He's progressing nicely, as you just saw there. There's no guarantee around water. So eventually, he was released again. But unfortunately, he had already made a connection to people in some way. And so shortly after his first release, he went immediately over to an area that was heavily populated with people. He went up onto the beach, and people began taking photos with him. And some people had their dogs with him. He suffered bites from dogs, people were posing with them. Again, not knowing that what you're doing is very illegal. These animals are federally protected marine mammals, whales, dolphins, sea otters, any marine mammal, they're federally protected. So that's illegal. But for this reason, it became so bad that he had bites on his flippers and things like that. He had to be rescued again by the National Marine Life Center.
Doug
And so Monty went back through the rehabilitation process.
Chip
And then finally, third time around, they released him again. He immediately went back to another group of people, but marinelife center had observers out there watching him and he was around fishermen. But he became entangled in some mono line on one of his flippers that they observed on him and they thought, “Oh, my goodness, this is not going to work”. But then he was able to get that off just but then they noticed he had a large treble hook lure that was impaled in his right front flipper, had gone through his flipper. And he was up on the beach. So National Marine Life Center for a third time responded a veterinarian intervene, they removed this hook back to the National Marine Life Center, he went and at that point, the National Marine Fisheries Center, which is a branch of NOAA, the National Oceanic Aeronautics Administration, said this animal, in agreement with the National Marine Life Center, is not releasable. This is a three strikes kind of you're out. We need to find a home for him. If you can't find a home for Monty or other species, and rehabbers need that space because they have to rescue other animals. If you can't, one of the options as euthanasia. You have to euthanize the animal if you can't find a home.
Doug
As of now, Monty is going through a 30 day quarantine in case of any pathogens he may have brought in, as well as to spend time with a behavioral trainer. After he passes the training courses, the entire staff can then begin to work with him. Sarah, the trainer, is holding an instrument. It's basically a long wooden pole with a white hard plastic ball on the tip.
Michelle
This is called a target pole. What it does is literally just focuses the animals attention. We hold this because it's an extension of our arm. So if we want him to go in the water, our arms are a little bit small. So by adding two and a half, three feet to it, we're able to put him wherever we would like him to go.
Doug
Monty finds fish to be great reinforcements for his training, especially herring. Apparently, Monty loves him some herring.
Michelle
I am going to open all the gates so he can come out on it. That's your herring, it’s actually what tells the animal you've done the behavior correctly, and you are going to get a reward. It's called a bridge because it bridges in time and space when the animal has done the behavior correctly and when they're going to get their reinforcement.
Doug
Monty brings his little nose to the white ball and follows it as Sarah moves around, and then he gets some of that tasty herring. He looks so curious.
Michelle
At this age, they are. At any age, they are. He's only a year and a half years.
Doug
Do you think they will take him under their wing?
Michelle
Harbor seals are pretty solitary. And so for the most part, they it's not like they form bonds with each other. But I can tell you, most likely with the other baby harbor seals that I've worked with, he will be going up to him and kind of like, antagonizing them, you know? Like a little brother or sister would do, like pulling, not being anthropomorphic. But that is something that the harbor seals, especially young harbor seals like to do.
Doug
How do you know when he'll be ready to join the others?
Michelle
When we can safely move him to all areas and he has his specific percentage of correct responses.
Chip
In between that time he'll be meeting the seals and getting more used to them. So it won't be like “oh my gosh, it's a new place and new seals.” He will have that sense. But when you open that door, it does change a little you know, suddenly it's the real world. Behavioral management of animals teaches them to live in their environment that we've created for them here. It's not for tricks and all those things that people think of training is for. It is stimulating for them. There's a lot of a lot of things for them. But it teaches them to live here. And that's the most important thing so we can care for him.
Doug
It's incredible to see how much time and love and resources and expertise are going into Monty’s preparation. Oftentimes, human interaction with wild animals is for the worse. But when it comes to animal rehabbers, the interaction is meant to get the animal back on its feet, or paws or claws or flippers, and release them back into the wild. But what if their situation does not allow them to be released back into the wild, then what? Russell and Monty's situations are partly tragic, but hopeful for them and other wild animals in need of a second chance.
Doug
It's such an incredible story to see this crow of all places, in an aquarium and have such great results with them.
Michelle
The land that meets the water is just as important as the water itself. And that's what we try to get across to people that what you do on land does affect the ocean, but it also affects the land and the animals that need it.
Chip
We're like this, we're intertwined. It's not just an aquarium in an aquatic environment, we’re an ecosystem and they thrive and live off of each other. And if you take portions of parts of that away from an ecosystem, the impacts go across lines, part of our mission and our goal is conservation through education, caring for and teaching people about animals like this. That's what we're here for, with a goal of teaching people to care and hopefully take action, be a part of the solution.
Doug
So why is that crow living in the aquarium? Because a human problem required a human solution. Animals like Russell Crowe and Monty are now part of a bigger story in education for us to learn to not just love wild animals, but to let them be wild. Oh, one more thing. So I have a Monty update. Since this recording, he's made wonderful progress with the animal care team. He's aced his training and is now in the main exhibit with his new harbor seal pals, Hector and Rudder. Oh and herring is still his favorite fish ever. To learn more about the Virginia Aquarium and how you can help animals like Monty and Russell, visit virginiaaquarium.com. If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future episodes, email me at curious@quickanddirtytips.com. If you prefer talking over typing, leave me a voicemail at 757-541-8471. For more information about the show and where you can find this across the internet, check out our show notes or visit quickanddirtytips.com. Special thanks to the Quick and Dirty Tips team: Adam Cecil, our Audience Development and Podcast Manager, Morgan Christianson, Podcast and Advertising Operations Specialist, Davina Tomlin, Marketing and Publicity Assistant, and our trusty intern Brendan Picha. Curious State is hosted and produced by me, Doug Fraser, for the Quick and Dirty Tips network, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers in partnership with Mignon Fogarty, Inc. Until next time, stay curious.