3-day-old harbor seal pup rescued
Published: May 30, 2005
An abandoned 3-day-old harbor seal pup has been rescued by biologists off Long Island and is being reared by hand.
Lifeguards at the Smith Point County Park Beach alerted biologists from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation that the seal was struggling in the surf about 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
The biologists rescued the pup _ which was about 2 feet long, weighed about 20 pounds and still had its umbilical cord attached _ and took it to the marine mammal hospital at the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium, the foundation said Sunday in a press release.
The pup was malnourished and dehydrated, the foundation said.
“The body condition of this pup strongly supports an abandonment scenario,” rescue program director Kim Durham said.
The seal will be hand reared by foundation staff for the next month, and then fish will be introduced into its diet, Durham said. Complete care for the seal should take at least three months.
Harbor seals generally migrate north to Massachusetts and Maine to give birth during late May and early June. This harbor seal pupping on Long Island’s southern shore could be a sign of the seals seeking New York’s shorelines as birthing and rearing sites, the Riverhead foundation said.
The nonprofit Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation administers a marine mammal and sea turtle rehabilitation program.
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