Grey Seal Released After LBI Rescue; Satellite Tags Allow Public Tracking

A grey seal pulled from a Long Beach Island road in February is back in the ocean. The seal got treatment for breathing problems and weight loss. She now wears satellite and acoustic tags so scientists — and anyone with internet access — can watch where she goes.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center attached tracking gear before setting her free at a beach inside a wildlife refuge. The satellite tag sits on her back. It’ll fall off when she molts and sheds her coat. An acoustic tag on her rear flipper wil stay on longer, pinging underwater receivers scattered across the mid- and North Atlantic whenever she swims past.

According to Jersey Shore Online, these tags will send back information about her travels, how deep she dives, and when she hauls out onto land. Weekly updates will appear on the organization’s website and social feeds.

Police got the call around 7 a.m. on Feb. 24. Someone had seen the seal on Long Beach Boulevard in Harvey Cedars. She’d waddled from the beach, crossed through a public access path, and wound up in a traffic lane on the four-lane road.

Officers showed up with the borough’s public works crew. Workers carried the seal to a safer location on Middlesex Avenue while waiting for rescue teams.

The stranding center gave her the ID number #26-011. Staff said she was discovered the morning after a blizzard hit. She was sick and starving when they brought her in.

At release, the seal tipped the scales at 73 pounds. The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society partnered with the stranding center to tag her.

She’s now enrolled in the center’s symbolic seal adoption program — a fundraiser that pays for food, medications, and vet bills for seals that wash up later. The center thanked donors for making her recovery possible.

Details can be found at mmsc.org/recently-released-seals.

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