Featured Image Credit: jacksonville.com
By Sarah Sharkey
A harbor seal has found his way to Florida. The seal is apparently young and lost, but a crew from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and SeaWorld are searching for him.
A fisherman reported the seal to be in Palm Valley, St. Johns County, but the team has yet to find the seal. Karen Parker, a spokesperson at FWC, said, “The seal is quite the elusive creature. We’re still looking for him. He’s definitely on our radar. So, if people do see him, if they could call our Wildlife Alert number, 1-888-404-3922, and let us know where it is, that would be awesome. We don’t know why he’s here. It’s very unusual to have a seal in Florida. It’s happened before but they are not native to Florida, they prefer the cold water up north. We don’t know how he lost his way.”
Although they haven’t caught him yet, there have been pictures taken of this lost seal. From the pictures, biologists say that he looks healthy and is just making himself right at home.
The team is still hopeful that they can catch him because Florida is well out of his home range. SeaWorld will help take care of the seal after they catch him. SeaWorld will help to evaluate his health and give him a safe place to stay while NOAA decides if he is fit to be released.
NOAA will help with the release of this seal if is deemed releasable. They would likely take him to somewhere further that is in the known home range of harbor seals.
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