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Volunteers taped off an area around the seal to keep onlookers 100 yards away.

SEATTLE – A seal pup found lounging on West Seattle's Alki Beach almost put a wrinkle in a major church event.

Leaders of the Mars Hill Church planned to baptize 200 people at the very spot where the seal was found sleeping Friday morning.

"It totally caught me off guard," said Nate Ellis, church spokesperson. "For every plan I had, every contingency, a baby seal wasn't in it."

The Seattle Parks Department asked the organizers to move the public baptism a few hundred yards down the beach, and they've complied, but then high tide rolled in and the seal was gone - and the mass baptism was able to move forward.

The event started at 6 p.m. Friday. Almost 1,000 people were in attendance.

A volunteer group called the "Seal Sitters" says seals that sleep on the beach are at risk of being hurt by pollution and beach-goers. They report a surge of baby seal sightings on Seattle beaches this summer.

Volunteers ask waterfront property owners to help by anchoring small floats or platforms off their property, so seals can have a place to lounge without risking the beach.

Federal law states humans have to stay 100 yards away from seals or they could be fined $2,000.