Ice seal season has officially begun. Our first two calls were both harp seals in Beverly Farms. One was a young harp seal that had found its way into a salt marsh and was basking in the sun. He was pretty inaccessible to the public and in a quiet area... except for a train that came by every few hours. The resident who called in the seal allowed us to use their house as a good vantage point to see where the seal was. Upon closer inspection it looked like a healthy seal that was just taking a break from the ocean and resting on land. We recorded the data we needed and took some photographs so we could more closely inspect his condition with out getting too close and stressing the seal out. After discussion with the New England Aquarium, we decided to let the seal be and monitor his condition. It is normal for harp seals to spend a few days on the shore resting and relaxing. As long as they look healthy it is not a big concern, when they are hungry they will head back to the ocean to grab a meal. We went every other day to check on his condition and the kind residents looked for him every day to let us know if he had left yet. After about 5 days the seal finally made his way back to the sea.
The second seal that day was an adult harp seal. Adult harp seals are quite large, around five feet long, but luckily are not very aggressive, even though they will defend themselves when people or animals get too close. Most people would have walked right on by and not noticed it in the rocks, but their dogs picked up on their scent. Dogs and seals don't mix very well, plus artic foxes and coyotes are natural predators of seals, so seeing a dog can be a pretty stressful situation. Luckily people walking their dogs were kind enough to put them on a leash or keep them a good distance away. This adult was just relaxing on the beach and trying to get some rest. He looked healthy over all, but did have a little abrasion on his chin and his eye had some discharge in it. This could be a sign of an injury or that the seal is fighting off a sickness. When people get a cold they get a runny nose, when seals get sick they get discharge from the eyes (and their nose too sometimes). As we were leaving the seal started to make his way out of the rocks and further down the beach. By the next morning he had gone back into the water. I am sure the winter will bring many more seals to our shores. If you seen one, please call our stranding hotline 508-284-5955, and please remember to stay at least 50 yards from the seal.
Ice seal season has officially begun. Our first two calls were both harp seals in Beverly Farms. One was a young harp seal that had found its way into a salt marsh and was basking in the sun. He was pretty inaccessible to the public and in a quiet area... except for a train that came by every few hours. The resident who called in the seal allowed us to use their house as a good vantage point to see where the seal was. Upon closer inspection it looked like a healthy seal that was just taking a break from the ocean and resting on land. We recorded the data we needed and took some photographs so we could more closely inspect his condition with out getting too close and stressing the seal out. After discussion with the New England Aquarium, we decided to let the seal be and monitor his condition. It is normal for harp seals to spend a few days on the shore resting and relaxing. As long as they look healthy it is not a big concern, when they are hungry they will head back to the ocean to grab a meal. We went every other day to check on his condition and the kind residents looked for him every day to let us know if he had left yet. After about 5 days the seal finally made his way back to the sea.
The second seal that day was an adult harp seal. Adult harp seals are quite large, around five feet long, but luckily are not very aggressive, even though they will defend themselves when people or animals get too close. Most people would have walked right on by and not noticed it in the rocks, but their dogs picked up on their scent. Dogs and seals don't mix very well, plus artic foxes and coyotes are natural predators of seals, so seeing a dog can be a pretty stressful situation. Luckily people walking their dogs were kind enough to put them on a leash or keep them a good distance away. This adult was just relaxing on the beach and trying to get some rest. He looked healthy over all, but did have a little abrasion on his chin and his eye had some discharge in it. This could be a sign of an injury or that the seal is fighting off a sickness. When people get a cold they get a runny nose, when seals get sick they get discharge from the eyes (and their nose too sometimes). As we were leaving the seal started to make his way out of the rocks and further down the beach. By the next morning he had gone back into the water. I am sure the winter will bring many more seals to our shores. If you seen one, please call our stranding hotline 508-284-5955, and please remember to stay at least 50 yards from the seal.