Tired seal pup tangled in plastic is rescued in New Jersey. Now she’s recovering
A seal pup was rescued in New Jersey after being found tangled in plastic, rescuers said.
On Feb. 15, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center got an “urgent” call, and when rescuers arrived in Beach Haven they found the female pup with plastic around her neck, according to a Feb. 19 Facebook post by the center.
The plastic came from a case of bottled water, rescuers said.
The gray seal was sent to the center, where the plastic was removed, officials said.
She was found skinny, tired and “suffering from gastrointestinal issues,” rescuers said.
McClatchy News reached out to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center on Feb. 20 for more information and was awaiting a response.
The center’s veterinarian conducted an examination of the pup and took blood samples to find any underlying conditions, officials said.
The baby, weighing in at 38.2 pounds, was tube fed a mix of formula and electrolytes, rescuers said.
She’s recovering in the center’s pool house, officials said.
Gray seals use their short flippers to “move in a caterpillar-like motion on land,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They can dive to 1,560 feet for as long as an hour and can live 25 to 35 years, the NOAA said.
Seals’ major threats include entanglement, illegal killing and oil spills, the NOAA said.
The center said gray seal “migration is in full swing” with pups “now making the long swim from their birthing grounds in New England and Canadian waters to New Jersey.”
Beach Haven is about 70 miles southeast of Trenton.
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