Rescued seal healing nicely

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An injured, male harbor seal was recovered from Long Beach on Feb. 22 by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research & Preservation and taken to their emergency rescue hospital. Many residents took to Facebook to wish the seal a speedy recovery share photos of the animal on the beach.

The seal is currently on antibiotics and appears to be healthy.

“I am happy to report that it started eating on it’s own, which is always a good step,” Rescue Program Director Kimberly Durham said of the seal, which has not been named by the foundation. The fifty-pound animal consumes between eight and ten pounds of fish a day.

Residents started calling in sightings of the seal to the foundation on Feb. 21, but based on their descriptions of its behavior and the photos they were sending in, the foundation did not determine that intervention was necessary at that time. Durham said that the foundation contacted state officials and local animal control authorities about the seal.

On Feb. 22 the seal was sighted again. This time the foundation decided to step in, citing the large volume of calls about the animal it was receiving.

“It just felt like we were fatiguing the animal and eventually it began to show signs of stress related issues so we decided to pick it up,” Durham explained. The seal was rescued on Ohio Avenue at around 5 p.m.

The animal was found to have a wound on its right side that appeared to already be healing.

“When we initially looked at it, it was an aged wound. It wasn’t actively bleeding and didn’t look infected,” Durham said. The cause of the wound could not be determined, “just that at some point the animal got a pretty significant injury.”

The seal did not appear thin or emaciated and Durham described its eyes as bright — a positive sign. There was no indication of sneezing or coughing. After conducting blood tests doctors put the seal on antibiotics.

The average length of rehabilitation at the rescue hospital is five to six weeks, but Durham said that the determination must be made on an individual basis. Now that the animal has been placed on antibiotics, it’s expected to remain under observation for a minimum of three weeks.

Durham estimates the earliest release date for some time at the end of March.

Seal sightings are not uncommon in the warmer months, and residents are advised to maintain a safe distance should they observe any wild animals near the ocean. “This is the time of year we will begin to see seals on the beaches,” Durham advised. She added that sometimes it’s best to, “just let the animal be.”