At 4:30p I dispatched our field volunteer back out to assess the situation. She reported back that she was able to control the scene, but there were lots of people around. I asked another field volunteer to help her while a team and myself gathered our gear and headed up there.
I examined the animal and assessed that it was fairly healthy and resting on the beach. He did seem extremely stressed since he was shivering and waving his flipper at me, both of which are stress responses. I retreated back to a safe distance so that he would relax and made a plan to relocate the seal to a more remote location where he could get the rest he needed.
We decided to kennel the seal and release it on a quiet beach. Relocation is a last resort because it is an extremely stressful situation for the animal as well. The best thing would have been for it to get the rest it needed on the beach without human interference. I marked him with an orange dot prior to release so that we would be able to identify him if he came up on another beach. He ended up going back into the water, and likely found another (and hopefully quiet) beach to rest.
~Kerry
This is not the first time a seal in Winthrop drew a crowd. Check out this previous post to see how rescuers handled a very similar situation.
This is not the first time a seal in Winthrop drew a crowd. Check out this previous post to see how rescuers handled a very similar situation.
It really amazes me that people try to touch these wild animals — madness!
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