KINGSTON, N.Y. — There’s something about the water near the Saugerties Lighthouse that a harbor seal, known only as Harbor Seal #246 really likes.
The seal was spotted swimming in the Hudson on Jan. 1 by two kayakers on the river between Malden and the Saugerties Lighthouse.
It’s not the first time the seal has been seen in the waters around the lighthouse.
In fact, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the sea mammal seems to have made the waters around Saugerties its home.
“It is a story like none we have ever heard of … a marine mammal showing such extended affinity and fidelity to freshwater,” Tom Lake, of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Almanac, said in an email Monday.
Lake said the male seal, which authorities believe was abandoned as a pup by its mother, was first discovered shortly after its birth on Lower Goose Island, Harpswell, Maine, on April 28, 2018.
He was rescued and brought to the Mystic Aquarium Animal Rescue Program in Connecticut, where it received medical treatment and was tagged before being released at Charlestown, Rhode Island, on Jan. 17, 2019.
Satellite tag images show that instead of heading out to the ocean, the seal decided to make its way up the Connecticut River. When it was unable to get past the Holyoke Dam, the seal headed back downriver to the Long Island Sound, and eventually made its way into the Hudson River, ultimately settling in the Esopus Creek on Aug. 21, 2019. For 620 days the seal remained in the creek, Lake said, where it was “faithfully monitored” by Saugerties Lighthouse Keeper Patrick Landewee.
Then, on April 24, 2021 – which officials believe was the seal’s third birthday — the seal mysteriously disappeared.
For four months officials wondered and worried about the seal and the fate it might have met. Then, on Aug. 25 — 123 days after he disappeared — the seal reappeared in the waters near Saugerties.
Officials learned that during the absence, Harbor Seal #246 traveled down to Long Island’s Atlantic Beach where it was picked up by the rescue program director at the New York Marine Rescue Center. The seal remained at the rescue center for about two months, where they say it was treated for an infection and seal pox (a cutaneous skin condition caused by a Parapoxvirus), before being released on Aug. 14, 2021, into Hampton Bays where it was expected to head back to sea.
Instead, Lake wrote, the seal embarked on the 210-mile journey back upriver to Saugerties where, on Aug. 25, 2021, Landewe “welcomed him home.”
“As of New Year’s Day … the time on station at Saugerties (with a brief vacation) for Harbor Seal #246 is 878 days,” Lake wrote.
“As far as we can tell, this is unprecedented, in particular for the Hudson River estuary. The seal presently seems very healthy and continues to enjoy the freshwater and the forage it provides.”
Officials with the state Department of Environmental Conservation said that while the river is not a usual habitat for seals, the department has received occasional reports of harbor seals in the Hudson. They said, though a seal taking up residency in the freshwater river is unusual.
“They are likely following a reliable and abundant food source, such as river herring,” the Department of Environmental Conservation stated in an email. “The river also offers a less populated destination for seals, avoiding crowded ocean beaches and competition from other seals and people.”
Agency officials said that seals remain a protected marine mammal under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and approaching them is considered harassment and illegal.
The public is advised to remain at least 150 feet away from marine mammals at all times. If the seal approaches a person, the individual should remain passive and unreceptive until the seal moves away.
“Seals are wild animals with sharp teeth and can become territorial and aggressive if approached,” the DEC stated
The public is also encouraged to report sightings of marine mammals, from the Hudson River down to Long Island, to New York’s Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline by calling (631) 369-9829. These sighting reports play a critical role in monitoring and conserving marine mammals in New York. Sightings can also be submitted to DEC’s Flipper Files, a citizen science survey for submitting reports of marine mammals and sea turtles: on.ny.gov/flipperfiles.
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‘Unprecedented’: Seal seems to have made the Hudson River around Saugerties its home - The Daily Freeman
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