In Brigantine, a police rescue and a question: Why did the seal cross the road?

Last week, as social-distancing restrictions kept beachgoers off the sand in Brigantine, officers in the Jersey Shore town were asked to lead a mission to track down one of the quarantine busters.

And after hours of searching, and two 911 calls, they found the culprit, lying in the sun and waiting for a belly rub. The four officers then helped the happy, and intrepid, seal — found on a roadway — return to the ocean.

The department detailed the April 2 rescue mission on Saturday as part of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office’s “Random Acts of Copness” campaign, helping to spread some cheer amid the bleakness of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first call came in early that morning, describing a seal in distress on the town’s beach. But Officer Corey Sprague spent a half hour looking for the animal with no results.

“It was definitely not the first time that we got a call for a seal," Sprague said. “So the squad goes out and it was a really nice day and we drove on the beach to see if we could locate the seal. But we didn’t see this seal.”

Not long after, Sprague received another call, this one directing him to a residential neighborhood nearby: The seal had been spotted in the roadway.

The officers soon saw the 4-foot animal crawling across the front yard of a home, and after a call to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the seal was taken to safety.

“This seal was trying to cross the street and it was not deterred by the police cars or the officers,” Sprague said. “This seal was on a mission to get somewhere.”

This article contains a correction to note the the “Random Acts of Copness” program is run by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.