Kendra Luckow is a Registered Veterinary Technologist who works as an Ecoguardian at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. Her duties involve caring for facilities on the rocky island, including a lighthouse. She also monitors wildlife sightings, such as the elephant seal, tracks visitors to the island, logs ships passing, daily weather, and more. The island’s custodians have logged their daily activity since 1997.
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While growing up in Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada, Kendra wanted to work with marine-based animals. Her favorite animals are the harbour seals, but she is enraptured by the elephant seals that inhabit Race Rocks.
While on daily excursions around the island, Kendra observes the local wildlife. She noted the elephant seals using a man-made concrete ramp to slide down to the water each morning. One day, she positioned her camera between two logs, focusing on the ramp. She left the camera in place to see what she might capture.
With the camera unattended, Kendra was able to catch the “hilarious trek” of the elephant seals. She always includes a standard warning on video and still pictures. Her warning on this video states, “I was NOT in the vicinity while this was recorded. I set up my camera against a log and walked away. Touching, interfering with, feeding, etc marine mammals is against the law. ALWAYS respect their space, they are dangerous, carry zoonotic disease, and did I mention…it’s against the law to interfere?”
Elephant seals have individual personalities and can be pretty comical. Neil the Seal has been terrorizing a Tasmanian town for years. Although the large animal is a menace, the people in the town adore him and his antics. He is an unofficial mascot for the town.
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