There was a juvenile harp seal who came up on the beach between Franklin & Neptune yesterday around noon. It was apparently injured but only borderline according to a biologist from The Riverhead facility that takes in animals that need a little help.
The Town of Hempstead conservation department was there as well as the bay constables to keep people away. The mammal was a little skiddish and they did not want it to dive back in the water. So they guarded the area until Riverhead arrived around 2:30pm.
The biologist assessed the animal and a decision was made to bring it back to the Riverhead aquarium to help it heal enough to be put back in the water.
It took two people to get it in a larger type dog box one of them had to straddle the seal while the other one coaxed it into the box. This occurred without incident and they lifted the box & placed it in the back of a pickup.
It was just nice to know that there were capable people watching out for our wildlife and it was actually quite exciting. When it moves about on the beach they call it galumphing. It looked as if the seal wanted to go with the Riverhead people as it did not put up a fight.
