Video: Stolen seal pup dies

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COUPEVILLE, Wash. - Two people who tried to rescue the same seal pup on two different occasions may face bIg fines.

The saga of the cute little female pup began on a rocky beach in the Whidbey Island Community of Coupeville.

Sandy Dubpernell of the Puget Sound Marine Mammal Network got a call last month from a man on sailboat who said he rescued an abandoned seal and put it in his dingy.

"I told him to bring in it and let it go," she said.

Dubpernell said after they released it she watched the seal for awhile and when she was convinced it would survive, she left.

But that was not the last she would hear of the little seal.

"Then I got a call from another person that the seal was found in the back seat of a car," she said.

Authorities in Coupeville are still scratching their heads over that one.

It was the same seal that had apparently survived it's first human "rescue" only to be "re-rescued" by another well-intentioned but poorly informed Good Samaritan.

The next call Sandy got about the seal was the one she dreaded most.

"They said she died," she said.

Federal agents say they will turn this case against the two people who tried to save the pup over to prosecutors.

Fines could go as high as $10,000 for each person and once again wildlife experts are pleading with people.

"Leave it alone, leave it alone," said

No matter how convinced you are the pup has been abandoned, the odds are against you. It only has a 50 percent chance of survival in the wild to begin with, and once you get involved, those odds drop off considerably.