Tragic loss: Recovering harp seal at a NJ marine center suddenly dies

🌊 A seal at a NJ marine mammal stranding center has died

🌊 The seal had been rescued from a beach in Middletown

🌊 The animal was doing well, then took a turn for the worse

BRIGANTINE — Some sad news out of Brigantine.

A Harp seal that was recovering at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center after being rescued from a beach in Middletown in February, has died.

The seal was admitted to the stranding center’s hospital on Feb. 19 after it was seen eating sand on the beach.

“As an animal that is found on the ice packs for most of their lives, Harp seals often consume snow and ice for fresh water. Sick and dehydrated Harp seals may start eating sand when hauled out on the beach, confusing it for snow, putting them in danger of gastric impaction,” according to a statement on the MMSC Facebook page.

Staff members said the seal was responding well to treatment to flush the sand out of his system. He continued to improve in the hospital, became very active again, and was eating normally.

Last week, the seal had his pre-release veterinary examination and bloodwork, both of which showed no abnormalities. Staff were getting the little guy ready to soon return to the wild.

Then, unfortunately, on Tuesday, March 19, the staff found the Harp seal to be extremely lethargic—a sharp contrast to his lively behavior just 10 hours prior during final hospital rounds.

Veterinarians worked all day to try and stabilize the Harp seal, but despite their efforts, the animal’s health continued to decline—and rapidly.

By Tuesday afternoon, he was extremely listless and not moving. Given the acute onset and rapid decline of his condition, the veterinary team made a very difficult decision to humanely euthanize him and put him out of his suffering.

A full necropsy will be performed to try and figure out why his condition changed so suddenly.

“This loss has been particularly painful for our team as this patient had come so far in the month that he was with us, and it seemed that this return to the wild was on the horizon. In wildlife rescue, nature doesn’t always give us a happy ending despite our efforts, but we can carry on because of the next animal that needs our help,” the staff said in a Facebook statement.

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