How Does The Seal Cross The Road?: Beverly's Cummings Center Has Help

BEVERLY, MA — It Shoebert the celebrity seal does make it back to Beverly at least now he will have some help finding his way if he gets stuck.

Cummings Center, which hosted the seal for a week last month as it splashed it up to the delight of North Shore residents in upper and lower Shoe Pond, has installed signage that commemorates the route Shoebert took to get to the Beverly Police Station during his great escape.

After "turning himself in" to Beverly police in the early morning hours of Sept. 23 following extensive attempts from North American Oceanic and Atmosphere crews to secure him earlier that day, Shoebert was taken to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut to be checked out.

He was determined to be a healthy, 4-year-old gray seal and released four days later off the coast of Rhode Island with tracking equipment pinning him back to the North Shore within the week.

Mystic Aquarium Animal Rescue Program manager Sarah Callan said Shoebert was, indeed, tracked back to the Beverly area at one point and that "he seems to really like investigating little inlets and bays."

(Also on Patch: Sealed With A Kiss: Shoebert's Endearing Week In Beverly's Shoe Pond)

The Cummings Center did have a lot of fun with the office workers and onlookers who flocked to Shoe Pond hoping to get a glimpse of Shoebert — from a safe and responsible distance, of course — each day during his stay.

"Although we can all agree it's safer for Shoebert to remain out at sea, should he decide to return to Shoe Pond, there'll be plenty of excited fans to welcome him back," Cummings Center General Manager Steve Drohosky told Patch.

(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.)