A very young Grey Seal pup was stranded for several days at Eastern Point Lighthouse. We nicknamed him EP and have been eagerly awaiting an update You can read the full story here.
Ashley Stokes from the Seacoast Science Center Marine Mammal Rescue program shares the following –
Update on the Gloucester, MA gray seal
Since being transferred to our colleagues at Mystic Aquarium on February 17th, the gray seal pup from Eastern Point continues to make progress in rehabilitation. He has begun eating fish on his own, is starting to gain weight, and is getting more and more access to pool time to help regain strength and muscle tone. He continues to be monitored closely, as he continues to have an elevated white blood cell count, but is on antibiotics to battle any infection. We remain hopeful for this little gray seal to continue making strides in rehabilitation, with the goal of his release in the not too distant future! Follow SSCMarine mammal on facebook here
Many, many thanks to Ashley, SSC Marine Mammal Rescuers, and Mystic Aquarium. If you would like to donate to the SSC, please go here
You can see in the footage EP was not interested at all in returning to the water. At each high tide, he scooched to get away from the water, not toward, coming closer and closer to the road.
A very young Grey Seal pup was stranded for several days at Eastern Point Lighthouse. During his time at the beach, the weanling was closely monitored by Cape Ann resident Alexa Mulroy, who is a volunteer for the Seacoast Science Center, along with Gloucester’s ACOfficers Teagan Dolan and Jamie Eastman.
The little guy was only about 24 inches long and was quickly losing his stored baby fat (because he was not eating while stranded on the beach). For the most part, he remained quiet, although he was feisty enough– growling, barring his teeth, stretching, itching and occasionally moving his flippers. He had a number of small cuts on his flippers and his mouth was bleeding. We nicknamed him EP and everyone hoped he would swim off with the next high tide.
The protocol for seal strandings, if they are not obviously sick or seriously injured, is to wait a day or two before locating a place for them to recover. December through February is Grey Seal pupping season and it’s not uncommon to see these very young seal babies on the beach. SSC volunteer Alexa Mulroy placed symbolic roping and several signs around the seal to let people know of his presence. For the most part, people were respectful, and allowed EP to rest peacefully.
Seacoast Science Center, based out of Rye New Hampshire, is the region’s go-to organization for marine mammal rescue. Although they are not permitted to rescue animals on Cape Ann they can, with special permission from NOAA. EP’s rescue was coordinated by Ashley Stokes, SSC Director of Marine Mammal Rescue and assisted by Brian Yurasits, SSC Marine Mammal Rescue Community Outreach Manager and Rebecca Visnick, Gloucester’s Deputy Shellfish Constable.
With each high tide, EP moved away from the water, not towards, and it became clear that he was not yet ready to return to the sea. Constable Rebecca thought EP was a little over a month old and only recently weaned from his mom.
The challenge became to find a place to take EP. The New England Aquarium, National Marine Life Center (NLMC), or Marine Mammals of Maine (MMoME) had any openings. Ashley was persistent and fortunately for EP, there was “room at the inn” at Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium.
Mid-morning on Friday, Ashley, Rebecca, and Brian arrived at the EPLighthouse beach with truck, a dog crate, and equipment needed to give EP a health assessment before transport. Ashley and Rebecca sort of “swaddled” him prior to administering much needed fluids, he was then placed into the carrier and loaded onto the truck. Brian was in charge of transporting EP to Mystic. We hope we’ll have a positive update in the near future!
Ashley, Rebecca, and Brian
Once again I am struck by how we are all connected by these beautiful wild creatures that travel our shores. Just as was Peregrine Falcon 07/CB that hatched in Newburyport, who was treated for injury at Wild Care in Eastham and at Tufts in Medford, and is now hunting along the shores of Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, Grey Seal pup EP was stranded in Massachusetts, rescued by New Hampshire’s Seacoast Science Center, and will undergo rehab at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.
Donations to Seacoast Science Center are very much appreciated. We residents of Cape Ann are so grateful and appreciate so much their kind assistance. If not for the SSC Marine Mammal Rescue program, Cape Ann would be largely without a resource for organized marine mammal rescues.
Not every seal you see on the beach is in need of rescue, in fact, most are not. Seals are semi-aquatic and most haul out to sleep, nurse, soak up the sun, or escape predators (sharks!).
Guidelines provided by SSC on what you should do if you spot a live or dead seal or other marine mammal on a beach.
Watch quietly from at least 150 feet away
Keep dogs away from the animal
Do not pour water on the animal
Do not offer the animal food or water
Do not cover the animal with a towel or blanket
Do not try to move the animal
Call 603-997-9448 and report the animal’s location, size, coloring, and behavior.
Seacoast Science Center Mission – Our mission is to spark curiosity, enhance understanding, and inspire the conservation of our Blue Planet.
Ashley from SSCMarine Mammal Rescue program shares the following on March 5th –
Update on the Gloucester, MA gray seal
Since being transferred to our colleagues at Mystic Aquarium on February 17th, the gray seal pup from Eastern Point continues to make progress in rehabilitation. He has begun eating fish on his own, is starting to gain weight, and is getting more and more access to pool time to help regain strength and muscle tone. He continues to be monitored closely, as he continues to have an elevated white blood cell count, but is on antibiotics to battle any infection. We remain hopeful for this little gray seal to continue making strides in rehabilitation, with the goal of his release in the not too distant future! Follow SSCMarine mammal on facebook here
Conserve Wildlife NJ senior biologist Todd Pover makes a site visit to Cape Ann beaches, summer long updates from “Plover Central,” GHB Killdeer dune family raise a second brood of chicks, Cape Hedge chick lost after fireworks disturbance and then reunited with Fam, Great Black-backed Gulls are eating our Plover chicks, thousands of Moon Snail collars at Cape Hedge, Monarchs abound, #savesaltisland, missing Iguana Skittles, and Earwig eating Cecropia Moth cats.
August 2021
New short film for the Sawyer Free Library The Marvelous Magnificent Migrating Monarch!, Coastal Waterbird Conservation Cooperators meeting new short Piping Plover film, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the garden, why we love Joe-pye and other wildflowers, butterfly friends, Monarch cats in the garden, what is the purpose of the gold dots found on Monarch chrysalides?,Black Beauty came calling, Tigers in the garden, School Street sunflowers, Hoverflies, luminescent Sea Salps return to Cape Ann beaches, Petal Dancers and lemony Yellow Sulphurs on the wing.
September 2021
Flower Fairies, irruptive Green Darner migration, mini glossary of late summer butterflies, what to do if you find a tagged Monarch, Painted Ladies, White-tailed Deer family, Monarchs mating, Tangerine Butterflies, yellow fellow in the hood, and Beauty on the Wing first ever live screening at the Shalin Liu.
October 2021
Bee-sized butterfly the American Copper, Monarch conga line, Thunder and Cloud, abandoned Piping Plover egg, School Street Sunflowers, Monarchs migrating, quotidian splendor, Monarch fundraiser updates, collecting milkweed seeds, the Differential Grasshopper, Cooper’s Hawk – a conservation success story, #ploverjoyed, and nor’easter from the EP Lighthouse.
November 2021
Bridges between life and death, ancient oak tree uprooted, autumn harvest for feathered friends, Monarch migration update, we have achieved our fundraising goal!, Harbor Seal pup hauled out, flight of the Snow Buntings, and a very rare for these parts wandering Wood Stork calls Cape Ann home for a month.
Here is to hoping for a brighter 2022 as we celebrate the December solstice. From now on through the coming six months the days will become longer and brighter.
Wildly blustery at the Point last evening on this the first day of March.
‘In like a lion, out like a lamb’ – the old weather folklore is proving to be true for the first few days of March, 2021. Wouldn’t it be delightful if ‘out like a lamb’ were true as well.
The footage of the Eastern Point Lighthouse and Mother Ann was shot Wednesday afternoon as the storm was waning, about an hour and a half after high tide.
