Officials: Beached Seal Is Unharmed
SANDY HOOK, N.J. (AP)-- Officials say a seal that came ashore in central New Jersey does not appear to be injured.
Staffers with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine had responded to Sandy Hook on Sunday afternoon after receiving reports of a possible seal stranding. But they determined that the seal was just taking a break on the beach.
Sheila Dean, the center's co-director, tells the Asbury Park Press that the seal is known to the stranding center, and was identified by a tag on one flipper.
The center had treated the seal last year before releasing it into waters off Rhode Island. The seal then came ashore in New York, where another marine group treated it for an infected cut late last year.
Dean says seals regularly seek land to rest.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
