The MERR Institute — a Lewes-based animal protection organization — has rescued three seals so far this season and expects a busier March.
Executive Director Suzanne Thurman says they usually only receive a trickle of seal stranding reports in February, but there’s been a surge of sightings in the past week.
“They are predominantly yearlings and pups that have, especially with the pups, they've recently been weaned, and they don't get much instruction on how to go about living their life. So they end up on the beaches, oftentimes underweight. They're just not quite figuring out life in the ocean and need a little extra support," Thurman explains.
Among those rescued was a male Grey Seal pup, referred to as Pisces, who was found resting at the water’s edge in Fenwick Island with numerous puncture wounds.
Pisces was transported to the National Aquarium in Baltimore for additional assessment, treatment and rehabilitation.
Just one day after Pisces’ rescue, another seal — Gemini —was released back into the wild at Dewey Beach following treatment for dehydration, seal lice and eye discharge.
Thurman says last year the MERR Institute saw big weather-related spikes in rescues earlier than usual due to exceptionally high tides and storm tides.
"These seals are on the colony off of Lewes — they're just on a lower level of rocks that are there — and so they were getting washed off the rocks away from their mothers during these extreme high tides and then making their way into shore."
The institute did not see that same influx this February, but Thurman still expects a busy March ahead and notes extra care will be taken to look out for avian influenza cases.
"This year we’re hyper alert for any signs of avian influenza that may have been transmitted from the birds to the seals, so we have that going on as well. And what we tend to see though in this February-March time frame are these pups that have recently been weaned, and they’re just either not ready to have been weaned — it could be pre-weaning, and they’re dependent pups and still need to be tended to by the mother and fed by the mother, so without that, they won’t survive. So we can intervene and provide nutritional support and fluids."
Thurman reminds the public to report seals to the MERR Institute’s stranding hotline immediately at (302) 228-5029, to not approach the animals — remaining at least 150 feet away if possible — and to keep dogs on leashes.
