Harp seal stranded in Perry cove survives

A young harp seal had an adventure at Gleason's Cove in Perry that ended well. Stranded on a high tide, the seal was first discovered by Perry resident Josh Overton on the morning of January 16.
Overton was on the cove's shore, returning with his dog from a walk, when he suddenly realized that he and the dog had missed seeing the seal on their way out. "It was 20 feet from the parking lot path." Luckily, his dog "was all worked up about a porcupine in the field, so he was paying attention to that and must have missed the seal on the start of the walk," Overton says. "The tide was just starting to come back in, so it must have gotten stranded on the high tide."
Allied Whale Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator Rosemary Seton, out of Bar Harbor, got the call about the harp seal that morning. Allied Whale handles marine mammal strandings for the Downeast region, she explains, and should be called if someone finds a stranded or dead marine mammal. They will send out help, and in this case it was Allied Whale volunteer and marine scientist Robin Hadlock Seeley, who lives in Pembroke.
"I've volunteered for Allied Whale for about eight years," Seeley says. They may not call for a year and then all of a sudden she'll get a flurry of calls for help. Last year she was asked to report on a dead harbor seal in Pembroke. She took photos, measured its length and looked for any possible cause of internal injuries. Later she learned that the necropsy had found that the pregnant seal had been full of parasites. With the harp seal, "Rosemary called me to check on it. Josh waited for me so he could direct me to it." She sat with it until the tide came in, and the harp seal went on its way. Seton notes that the photographs of the seal revealed from its markings that it would soon be a yearling. She explains that adults of four years or more will have a lyre harp shape of dark fur on their back, whereas juveniles have random splotches of color on their silvery gray fur.
Harp seals are found in the Arctic, Newfoundland, where they are still hunted for their fur by clubbing, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Seton points out that the seals need to pup on ice, and with the changes in climate "for the past 20 years we've been seeing them every winter in the Gulf of Maine and in parts of the greater Atlantic region. Colleagues in Virginia have seen them." They are not endangered, with a healthy population of seven to eight million, "but losing ice is going to be critical for them" and is starting to shift their behavior.
Seals blend in well with the rocky beaches, explains Seton. There are steps to take when finding one, dead or alive. Keep a distance of 150 feet. It is illegal to handle marine mammals. If possible, take photos from a distance. Call Allied Whale with the time of seeing it, its location and location details with reference points to help volunteers find the mammal. If the mammal is alive, Allied Whale, while not a rehab facility, is licensed to hold it for 96 hours while waiting for transport elsewhere. "Dead marine mammals are important to us too; they are critically important for research," Seton says.
Overton is signing up for Allied Whale's February online workshop on marine mammal life and volunteer stranding work. "I'm a medically retired veteran, so I have some free time." He adds, "It was a great experience and enlightening to find all the people who were able and willing to help." And just as important, he notes, "so many people reached out. Now they're all aware of how and who to reach out to if this happens again."
For more information about Allied Whale, visit www.coa.edu/allied whale.