A gray seal rescued at Point Lookout Beach in Nassau County Monday and released that same day into Shinnecock Bay made a stop in Southampton Tuesday, and a biologist said it is doing well.
Southampton Village resident Christopher Broich said his dog, Egypt, a rescue herself, found the seal at during a walk. The seal had a tracking device mounted to its back and an eye that appeared infected. Broich reported the seal, which was lying on rocks, to the Riverhead Foundation.
Director Robert DiGiovanni said Thursday that the foundation sent out a biologist to check on the seal and it was alert and fine. “It was behaving like a gray seal should,” he said.
The seal, which the foundation named Copperfield, had been found Monday at Point Lookout caught in a net and was brought back to Riverhead to be disentangled, where it was determined the seal was not in need of rehabilitation and could be released, DiGiovanni said.
The foundation put a satellite tracker on the seal before releasing it into the bay and DiGiovanni said that as of Thursday morning the seal was 20 kilometers offshore, southwest of the Shinnecock Inlet.
He encouraged people who spot stranded animals to call the foundation’s tip-line, 631-369-9829.
