Stranded seal pup on course for a return to wild waters

The traffic-stopping seal pup who wandered the streets of Riverside on Sunday morning appears to be in good health and could be released to the wild in a week, according to New York Marine Rescue Center officials.

On Monday, the male seal estimated to be about three months old and weighing close to 50 pounds, basked in a ray of sun at the organization’s animal hospital and growled at anyone who dared disturb his nap. The marine mammal is getting plenty of herring at the facility, housed at the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead, and is undergoing a veterinary evaluation. If all goes well, he will soon be tagged and released to live a life more familiar to pinnipeds.

Rescuers believe the gray seal was following migrating alewives — a species of herring common in the waters off Long Island — up the Peconic River for Sunday breakfast when he climbed a human-made fish passage and found himself on dry land. Onlookers who spotted the seal where it shouldn’t be — waddling through parking lots and a busy traffic circle — called Southampton Town police who were able to confine the perplexed pup until rescue center representatives arrived.

Young wild marine animals, like most youngsters of any species, are inherently curious and can occasionally be found roaming the streets, said the marine center’s director, Maxine Montello.

“These guys are so inquisitive at this age and so they often find themselves in kind of peculiar areas,” she said on Monday. “ 'Out of habitat’ is the term we like to use. But we've rescued seals in people's backyards, under people's vehicles.”

Seals look cuddle-worthy with their furry coats and puppy dog eyes, but Montello warned that a stressed animal can bite. It is recommended instead to stay 150 feet back and report a seal sighting to the center’s hotline at 631-369-9829.

“Because they're so cute, everybody wants to go near them,” Montello said.

“They are going to get hurt," she said of curious people who get too close to an equally curious but untamed seal. "They are wild animals.”

Ali Temiz, manager at a Shell gas station next to the traffic circle, said it was obvious to him to stay back when he approached the seal Sunday morning.

Temiz said he went outside the station because a woman had parked her car in the road with the hazard lights on. He quickly realized it wasn’t the driver in need of assistance, but the seal, plopped down on its belly in the store's parking lot. The animal rebuffed Temiz's attempt to guide it to safety.

“I tried to help, but it attacked me,” Temiz said Monday. “I stepped back.”

Temiz, who initially thought the seal had escaped from the nearby Long Island Aquarium, called 911.

Responding Southampton Town cops surrounded the seal and then, as described by the police department in a news release, “detained” it until help arrived.

“They did what police officers do,” department spokeswoman Lt. Susan Ralph said Monday of cops pressed into service as something close to seal whisperers. “They used their tactics to kind of corral him into an area and kind of spoke to him to keep him calm.”

Marine center representatives said marine animals should only be rescued with professional assistance. That’s what happened to "Sweetbriar," another gray seal pup someone mistook for a river otter in February. The animal was brought into Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, hence its name, and staff called the rescue center. It is now at the facility recovering from a bout of conjunctivitis.

“As the weather gets nicer, we have that overlap between humans and seals,” Montello said. “It's so important to give them their space.”

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.