Baby seal rescued after wandering the streets of Ocean City

A baby seal survived quite an odyssey this week after getting stranded in the middle of a residential area in Ocean City.

Resident Michael Trojak spotted what he initially believed to be a black plastic bag in the middle of North West Avenue around 5 p.m. Wednesday. As Trojak got closer, he thought it could be a hurt dog and joined two other men already stopping to help.

It wasn’t.

The figure was a seal pup, and a growing crowd gathered around it.

Seals are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and should only be picked up by trained professionals. As the group considered what to do, calling animal control came to mind. But, Trojak had heard of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in the news and decided to call.

While he was on the phone, the pup was on the move.

At one point, bystanders’ expressions turned to horror when a car — unaware of the unexpected mammal — passed another vehicle.

“We thought she ran over the pup,” said Trojak.

The baby seal was unharmed and seemed determined to make it back to sea. As the crowd followed his journey — through backyards, residential blocks, and multiple intersections — another man called the police.

Within minutes, an Ocean City Police Department officer arrived to block traffic.

As the little one was within a hundred yards of the beach ramp, he was rescued by the personnel from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

The pup is in recovery at one of the center’s ICU tanks, where he will be cared for and fed until he can return to the ocean in about six weeks, director Sheila Dean said.

“This pup is too thin, we needed to bring him [in] because he hasn’t been feeding well. So with the cold weather and next week’s impending bad weather, it probably would not have survived,” said Dean.

The baby seal weighed about 28.8 pounds upon intake, just more than half of the 50 pounds Dean said a 4- to 6-week-old pup should be.

As part of the recovery process, the exhausted adventurer is being fed a mixture of formula and electrolyte solution via tube feeding.

He is the second seal since December rescued from a roadway.

“Typically, we see at least one case of a wayward pup stranding in an unusual location every seal season,” said Dean.

Gray seal season, the period when breeding and weaning takes place, is between December and April, said the executive director. So, it’s not unusual for the pups — left to fend for themselves — to get lost on their way to find food.

“It’s not that they don’t have food, they are just young,” said Dean. “Some years are light, we might only have a dozen [wanderers], some years we have 25 to 30 seals throughout the season.”

This situation, Dean said, is a good reminder to be careful driving at the Shore, especially during coastal flood advisories such as the ones experienced this week. If the seawater enters the roads, seals can follow.

The center’s tanks are full with four pups rescued from multiple beaches in New Jersey and Delaware.

If you come across a stranded sea animal, you can call the Marine Mammal Stranding Center 24-hour hotline at 609-266-0538.