An elephant seal pup suffered “multiple stab wounds” in an attack at an Oregon beach, prompting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to launch a search for a person of interest. 

The NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement said this week that the incident happened on March 16 in Neskowin, Oregon, along a stretch of shoreline in front of the Proposal Rock Condominiums. 

“While the young elephant seal survived, it sustained multiple stab wounds. The Marine Stranding Team monitored and evaluated the animal before relocating it,” the NOAA said in a statement. 

The agency released a sketch of a person of interest, described as a White male “Approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a standard build, black and white hair, a groomed beard, and a large gap between his front teeth.” 

The baby seal was relocated away from the Oregon beach following the stabbing, the NOAA said. (Tiffany Boothe/Seaside Aquarium via AP)

Following the attack, the seal’s wounds were healing, it had grown to about 300 pounds and there were no signs that the stabbing was going to have “lasting effects,” Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries West Coast region, told The Associated Press. 

The seal that was stabbed likely left its mother very recently and was on its own to learn to hunt, Milstein said. Once it had grown a bit more, it would have likely made its way back to breeding areas around the Channel Islands off Southern California. 

This photo provided by Gregory G Miller shows a stabbed seal pup on a beach in Neskowin, Oregon, on March 27, 2025 a day after it was attacked. (Gregory G Miller via AP)

The NOAA said “Harassing, harming, killing or feeding wild elephant seals is prohibited under the Marine Mammal Protection Act” and “Violations can be prosecuted civilly or criminally and are punishable by up to $100,000 in fines and up to 1 year in jail per violation.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.