A wayward seal is now receiving treatment at Mystic Aquarium.
That’s after police officers received reports of him roaming the streets of New Haven over the weekend.
“They thought it was kind of a prank at first. They didn't really believe it,” New Haven Police's Christian Bruckhart said.
On Saturday, the gray seal was spotted by Morris Cove. Volunteers from Mystic Aquarium moved him to a private beach hoping he’d find his way out.
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But then on Sunday, he was found in the area of Chapel and East streets in the Fair Haven neighborhood.
It’s a bit of a trek from the water.
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“I checked with one of our bosses, who's been here for like 25 years, and then asked him, you know, ‘If you'd ever heard of this before?’ So you know, we've gotten bears, turkeys, foxes, coyotes, but I think this is the first seal that anyone working here has heard of. So we figured he was here for the clam pizza, but we're not sure,” Bruckhart said.
So again, a crew from Mystic was called in.
“He just kept getting deeper and deeper into the city, following his natural instincts at first, and then realizing that he was just totally out of his element and lost,” Francesca Battaglia, Mystic Aquarium animal rescue technician, said.
“They usually won't go into that far into the city. They’ll move up the beach, typically to try to get away from the weather and larger seals," Battaglia continued.
Battaglia said with him in danger of being hurt, including potentially being hit by a car, they decided to take him in.
They brought him back to the aquarium to be checked out and to help him gain some weight since he’s thin and roughly 28 pounds.
We’re told he’s probably about six weeks old – recently weaned off his mother – and might have gotten a little disoriented.
“He is on his own now, and he's just trying to figure it out. But he's a young animal. And so sometimes those first few weeks without mom can be a little tough on these guys,” Battaglia said.
The seal is going to be spending some time at the aquarium before hopefully being released out into the ocean.
They remind everyone there is a hotline to call if you see marine mammals or sea turtles in need of help. You can call 860-572-5955 extension 107.
