A baby seal took a wrong turn this weekend, trading ocean waves for city streets in Connecticut and local cops stepped in for an impromptu seal-sitting gig. “I’m sure they thought it was a joke,” New Haven Police Officer Christian Bruckhart told local outlet WTNH. “It was a seal in the street.”
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The young seal, estimated to be around just five or six weeks old, was discovered stranded in the middle of Chapel Street near East Street. To ensure its safety, police promptly secured the area. They blocked off the road until experts from the DEEP and Mystic Aquarium arrived to assist.
The US people have heart at least, this seal in Connecticut wanted to be in the city but the cops guarded it and kept it safe until it was put in a nice aquarium pic.twitter.com/HX6nHsQl8O
— ♡✰❤Veronicat♡❥♡ ✌ (@Veroniquehh) February 19, 2025
Mystic Aquarium animal rescue technician Francesca Battaglia couldn’t help but do a double take seeing a seal wandering the streets
“It definitely was concerning for us when we saw he was amidst all that hustle and bustle of the city,” Battaglia told WTNH.
The Seal Cub Has Been Sighted on the Connecticut City’s Streets Before
Battaglia mentioned that this wasn’t the first encounter the aquarium’s animal rescue team had with the seal. Last week, the cute cub popped up in Branford. However, on Saturday, he really nailed the theme by showing up near Shell & Bones Oyster Bar and Grill on South Water Street in New Haven.
“We’re like, he’s still bright and alert and looking good,” Battaglia added. “Maybe we can just relocate him to a safe beach, and so our team did do that. But then, unfortunately, the next day, he showed back up in the middle of the city there.”
“We don’t know why it was here. I assumed it was for the clam pizza,” she quipped.
Authorities in Connecticut are trying to solve how a young seal pup wound up in Downtown New Haven. The baby seal was taken to the Mystic Aquarium where it received a healthy diet of fish and fluids in hopes of returning the pup back into the wild. @DavidMuir reports. pic.twitter.com/AvdgrjpyJb
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) February 18, 2025
According to the aquarium, the pup is slightly underweight at just 28 pounds. They believe he was likely driven by instinct to distance himself from the water and other seals, which might pose a threat to his safety.
“He’s probably just lost and figured that these are my instincts. Unfortunately, with the area being so developed, it’s not actually a safe place for him,” Battaglia explained.
The goal is to return this seal cub to the wild, which may take weeks or months. For now, he’ll be on a steady diet of fish and fluids, though he won’t be hand-fed for long.
“We want him to be able to hunt on his own and catch what he needs to support himself,” Battaglia explained.