Featured Image Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News
By Sarah Sharkey
A few hundred seals have recently been moving into New York City. That’s right! The city that never sleeps is now home to a variety of seals according to Gotham Whale. Gotham Whale is a nonprofit group that tracks the marine life in the New York area.
Paul Siewerda, the president of Gotham Whale, said, “There’s more and more seals. The population of seals up north is really quite large, and so they’re expanding down to the southern areas during the wintertime, and that’s what we’re seeing. Seals on Staten Island is actually probably a very old thing, but they were hunted out from this area as they were up north, and now the population is returning. So now they’re returning more and more to their native habitat.”
It is assumed that with the passing of the Marine Mammals Protection Act and increasingly clean waters that the seals are returning to their original home range, which includes the waters around Staten Island.
Their population is estimated to be around 300 seals and growing.
Although they are cute, they do not like being harassed by anyone. If you are lucky enough to encounter one of these seals, then remember to keep your distance.
Learn more from our source here.