Beverly's Shoe Pond Seal Shoos Away Relocation Attempts

BEVERLY, MA — Shoebert is apparently in no hurry to leave its new home despite National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attempts to relocate it on Thursday.

NOAA crews were at Shoe Pond late Thursday afternoon with nets in an apparent attempt to either secure the celebrity seal visitor or at least persuade it to return to the lower pond closer to a culvert it could use to return to the ocean.

But after circling around the gray seal for several hours on Thursday afternoon NOAA officials decided to let Shoebert be for at least one more night.

"Shoebert knew something was up!" Beverly fire quipped on social media. "We think the nets were a bit of a giveaway."

NOAA said it was consulting with "local stranding network partners" earlier this week to determine whether relocation is in the best interest of the gray seal that has made the Cummings Park pond its home for the past week.

As Beverly Animal Control continued to urge residents and visitors to respect the boundaries set up around the pond to protect the seal and keep humans at least 150 away from it, the Beverly Fire Department said Thursday morning that "NOAA is looking at the situation with 'Shoebert' and considering plans for possible relocation.

"Their concerns are for his safety and the general public."

Beverly Animal Control Officer Matt Lipinski told Patch on Wednesday that Shoebert was "just happy kicking around and doing its thing" but that his office was prepared to support NOAA in any decision it makes in the interest of the seal's long-term health and continued to urge onlookers to respect the boundaries.

"It has been brought to our attention that people are crossing the yellow caution tape placed by Animal Control," he said in a social media post on Thursday morning. "The tape is there to keep distance for everyone's safety.

"Do not go up to the water's edge even in areas where you are able to access the water. We understand that Shoebert is loved, but he is still a wild animal. His and your safety are our No. 1 concern, and human interaction can be detrimental to wild animals."

The Federal Marine Mammal Protection act makes it illegal to disturb, feed, hunt or otherwise harass any marine animal.

The seal was first spotted in the lower Shoe Pond last week and stayed there into the weekend. When it was not spotted on Monday, there was a thought that Shoebert — as he or she has been dubbed — may have made its way back "home" to the ocean through the culvert where it entered.

But it was then found swimming in the upper pond late in the day Monday with Lipinski saying the assumption being that it traveled there over a land bridge late Sunday night.

"There are more fish up there," Lipinski told Patch on Wednesday. "The animal is not in distress by any means. It is just happy kicking around and doing its thing."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)