Tom, a 7-month-old gray seal, had spent the past four months at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, where he underwent rehabilitation because of a broken jaw, a worm infection and other problems.
On Wednesday, he proved to his rescuers that he could successfully hunt for live fish on his own and had healed enough to go back out into the ocean. So in a quiet spot — away from beachgoers — they released him Wednesday on the shores of the state park.
“Tom did great, and our team was hopeful that he will have a smooth transition back into the ocean,” said Margot Madden, a senior rehab biologist at the aquarium who helped oversee his care.
Tom was found in mid-April in Lewes, Del., by wildlife officials with the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute. They asked experts at the National Aquarium to care for the seal, which was then estimated to be about 2 or 3 months old.
Madden said that Tom “came in with a lot of ailments” and that it was not clear what caused them.
He had an ulcer on one of his eyes, an infection of lungworms, injuries to his flipper and a broken jaw.
“Like baby humans, baby seals get sick all the time,” Madden said. “They’re still building up their immune system, so it’s the same thing with Tom.”
She said his ailments might have just become too much, potentially leaving his system compromised. “So he needed help,” Madden said. The worms were affecting his lungs and his ability to breathe, and experts said they were worried that if that issue were not treated, it could turn into pneumonia.
After Tom was treated for a month with a de-wormer medication, and steroids and antibiotics for the infections, he was sedated and underwent surgery on his fractured jaw. A bridge was put in and then fell out on its own, as designed, according to Madden.
Madden said it is not clear how the seal’s jaw was broken, but she said oral traumas are common for young seals because they start living on their own at about 2 months old. Gray seals live mostly in solitude and go to breeding grounds only to mate.
“Without Mom around to tell him no, he’s like ‘What’s this world like?’ and exploring on his own, so who knows how his injuries happened,” Madden said.
“The ocean is a wild place to live,” she added. “Only Tom could tell us what happened. It could be another predator, but we don’t know.”
Tom stayed in a pool, where he was able to swim daily and was fed fish — up to eight pounds a day. But since he had not caught live prey on his own, he had to prove to his human caregivers that he could do it.
“He did it,” Madden said. “He passed.”
“We knew he was able to hunt and thrive,” she added.
Tom was tagged with a plastic yellow marker on his left flipper with some details and the aquarium’s phone number in case he’s spotted at breeding grounds or caught on aerial surveys of seal populations, according to Madden.
Male seals can grow to up to 1,000 pounds and live until they’re 20 to 30 years old.
Two other injured seals were released at Assateague this spring. Madden said the aquarium usually gets about three seals a year for rehab.
The other two were Eloise, another young gray seal, found on the same beach as Tom, and Stewart Little, a 1-year-old male harp seal found in Ocean City.
Eloise had been “separated from her mom too soon and needed to learn how to eat fish and survive on her own,” Madden said. And Stewart Little had gotten too stressed in Ocean City when he came into contact with humans and dogs after coming down from the Arctic, according to Madden.
Seals migrate from the Arctic to warmer waters in the spring but find that life is different, Madden said. In the Arctic, they’re “hanging on the ice,” Madden said, and they sometimes “stress-eat,” which keeps them hydrated. But in busy Ocean City, they sometimes stress-eat but also eat sand, which makes them dehydrated.
“Once Stewart Little passed his sand and got some electrolytes … he was fine,” Madden said.
Madden said that if residents see a seal, it’s best to let it alone. She said the animals are protected by federal law.
“Don’t pet it, feed it or try to take a selfie with it,” she advised.
Stewart Little was released in late April, and Eloise was released earlier this summer. Both were released at Assateague.
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