Riverhead Foundation: Long Beach seal ‘had enough’

Maybe the seal just wanted to bask in the sun and roll around in the sand. But what it certainly did not want was company, even if the observers on the beach meant well, said Kim Durham, the rescue program director for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

At around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Durham said that the foundation received numerous calls reporting that a small harbor seal on Laurelton Boulevard beach was in distress. On Monday morning, the seal remained on the beach, and the foundation received numerous images from onlookers before it ultimately returned to the water.

“We received detailed reports about the animal's behavior, which was alert and active, and photos depicting the animal's body condition,” the foundation said Monday in a statement on its Facebook page. “After careful review and following our assessment protocols, we decided the seal should not be disturbed and monitored for the next 24 hours. When the report came in this morning that the animal was still on the beach, we dispatched our biologist, along with requesting assistance from conservation biologists in the area. The animal was observed going back into the ocean on it's own before our team arrived. We greatly appreciate any reports about sightings of marine mammals and sea turtles, so please don't hesitate to call our 24-hour rescue hotline, (631) 369-9829.”

Durham told the Herald that some observers said that it looked as if a shark had bitten the seal, though she explained that its wounds did not appear to be recently inflicted.

“Everyone was talking about a shark bite,” Durham said. “And when I saw the images … if it were [bitten by a shark], it’s really healed over and scarred and not something that, in my opinion, would have injured the animal. The image we got didn’t really raise any concerns for our team here. There was some [blood] stain in its fur and an old scar, but nothing that would warrant a need to pick the animal up and admit it to rehab.”

Durham said that the reports from Long Beach were among other calls the foundation fielded on Sunday, after seals washed ashore at Smith’s Point beach and Jones Beach.