OCEAN CITY, MD - The National Aquarium has announced the release of two harp seal pups this morning after a brief rehabilitation with National Aquarium Animal Rescue.
According to the National Aquarium, the larger seal, Yeti was rehabilitated after being found on the beach near Indian River Inlet in Delaware on February 16. Yeti was only the second seal to be treated at the new Stranding Response Center on 65th Street before being transferred to a facility in Baltimore to receive fluids,
The second seal, Medusa, was rescued from a beach in Lewes on March 4th. As WBOC’s Kirstyn Clark reported yesterday, Medusa was receiving treatment for minor puncture wounds at the National Aquarium Triage Center in Ocean City and received rehydration therapy, but did not need long-term rehabilitation.
Medusa’s rehabilitation took place in full at the Stranding Response Center, making her the first seal patient to receive exclusive care at the Ocean City facility.
The Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation (MERR) Institute told WBOC yesterday they are seeing an abnormally high number of stranded seals this year.
"We are having extreme high tides, and there is a colony off of Lewes where pups are being born right on the rock walls and breakwaters," said MERR Director Suzanne Thurman. "We think the water level came up so high that it just washed them off."
Both Yeti and Medusa successfully made their way back to the water after their release Friday morning.