Free-Spirited Seal's Fate Sealed: She's Headed to Detroit Zoo

On one of her forays out of the water in July, an infamous gray female seal with a predilection for land ended up with a fish hook in her snout. After another, she had lost 21 pounds and had to be treated with antibiotics for a cough.

In all, the seal’s odyssey from the sea has brought her ashore at least four times, from her first stop on Long Island to beaches all along the Jersey shore, from Island Beach State Park to Sea Isle City to Sandy Hook.

Now, she’s being grounded for good at the Detroit Zoo, the Associated Press reports.

“We would see it in Sea Isle City, swimming among the bathers, not bothering anybody, but clearly too used to humans being around,” Bob Schoelkopf, director of New Jersey’s Marine Mammal Stranding Center said. “In Longport, it came ashore and kids went up and started petting it. That’s what sealed its fate.”

Related:

• Seal with Fish Hook in Nose Rescued from Island Beach State Park

After rescuers returned the seal to the sea for what they hoped would be the last time at Sandy Hook on Aug. 18, she hardly skipped a beat before she was hanging with humans again.

“Throughout the next few weeks, there were dozens of reports of our seal swimming in close proximity to bathers in the surf,” Schoelkopf said. “We got calls from people saying they had fed it.”

The report said the Detroit Zoo plans a naming contest for the free-spirited seal. She leaves Sunday for her new home.

Tell Us:

• What name do you think best suits the seal? Tell us in the comments.

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A gray seal like this one is headed for the Detroit Zoo after she wouldn’t stay in the water. Photo via Marine Mammal Stranding Center Facebook page.