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On a perfectly sunny Friday morning, up and over the dune at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, Rhode Island, about 100 adults and children waited for the arrival of two very special guests: Gnocchi, a young male gray seal, and Ditalini, a juvenile male harp seal.
I learned about the pasta-named pinniped release the night before, on Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Program’s Facebook page, where they post seal release details a day ahead and invite the public to watch. I had attended a seal release at the same beach the week before, but Gnocchi’s story tugged at my heart.
I read that Gnocchi had been found on Norton Point on Martha’s Vineyard in February — dehydrated, lethargic, and with extensive damage on his right eye. Local officials and members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) monitored the seal, and eventually transported him to Mystic Aquarium for treatment, where veterinary specialists had to remove the eye.
A former Vineyard wash-a-shore myself, and a new resident of Stonington, Connecticut, Mystic’s neighboring town, I felt a sort of kinship with the young seal, so I got my camera ready and set my alarm.
Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Program invites the public to seal releases as both an educational opportunity to share their important work, and to give residents an up-close look at the various types of seals that swim in nearby waters.
“It’s just so cool,” local resident Chris DiSanto said to me as we stood on the beach. “Everybody pulls together and rescues these amazing animals.” We waited patiently with the crowd of onlookers — the seals seemed to be running late.
Gnocchi and Ditalini arrived in vans about 30 minutes later, and aquarium staff and volunteers carried their heavy kennel crates to the roped-off release area where spectators stood.
“It’s not that easy, so it took us a little while to get them in there this morning,” Sarah Callan, Animal Rescue Program Manager at Mystic Aquarium, said into a megaphone. “They haven’t been out on their own for a while, so they might take a little bit to reacclimate, so if they are swimming along the beach or haul out, we’ll give them plenty of space.”
Seal strandings happen for a number of reasons, including illness, injury, and due to entanglements with trash and fishing gear. The Animal Rescue Program started in 1975 and is a founding member of the Greater Atlantic Marine Mammal Stranding Network. It works closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other stranding organizations. From time to time, the aquarium will assist in “inter-program support” or transfer of strandings outside of their 1,000-mile coverage area.
“Not everyone has the opportunity to see seals in the wild and some people have no idea that we even have these animals in our area here,” Alexandra Cojocaru, Animal Rescue Technician at Mystic Aquarium, would tell me later. “Our rescue program responds to stranded marine animals along the coast of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Fishers Island, New York. We most commonly see gray seals, harbor seals, and harp seals.”
The crowd on the beach cheered as one volunteer opened the first crate, and Ditalini, who was found with pneumonia, dehydration, and skin wounds in Pawcatuck, Conn., in March, quickly shimmied down the beach and into the water. He soon disappeared, occasionally peeking his head up out of the ocean.
“You’ll notice these animals have tracking devices on their backs, and you’ll also notice that they will have a hind flipper tag. These are non-invasive,” Callan explained, adding that the seals shed the tracker on their backs when they have their annual molt.
“This tag is designed for tracking fine-scale movement and transmits a signal to a satellite when the tag breaks the surface of water,” Cojocaru added. “It can provide real time data on depth, time spent at each depth, temperature, and location; the battery life of the tag can last between 30 to 90 days.”
The second tag attached to the seal’s flipper pings off of receivers placed around the coast of Rhode Island. “The animal and tag need to be in close proximity to a receiver to pick up the ping,” Cojocaru said, adding that the battery life in the flipper trackers can last between 5 and 10 years.
“We’ll be able to track their interaction with other animals that might have acoustic tags as well,” Callan said. “That’s a project we have with the Atlantic Shark Institute, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and Atlantic Marine Conservation Society.”
We never force the seal into the water or anywhere on the beach … we try to allow them to move, rest, and enter the water where and whenever they would like.
– Alexandra Cojocaru, Mystic Aquarium Animal Rescue Technician
With Ditalini safely on his way, next up was Gnocchi, who peeked his single eye out of the crate with trepidation. Instead of heading toward the ocean once out of the kennel, he turned around and waddled up toward the dunes. Volunteers stayed close by with red “crowding boards,” which kept everyone at a safe distance.
“We do not intentionally corral the seals,” Cojocaru told me later. “We never force the seal into the water or anywhere on the beach, as once they are out of the kennel, we try to allow them to move, rest, and enter the water where and whenever they would like.”
At one point as the crowd was thinning, Gnocchi used his flippers to dig a cozy hole in the sand and take a nap.
As invested as I was in Gnocchi’s journey back to the sea, I too, had to carry on with my day. I left to eat lunch at a nearby cafe, then returned to the beach just as Gnocchi had hauled himself back into the water. I and a few others followed from the shore, and volunteers explained that they would stay for as long as it took to make sure Gnocchi made it back to the sea.
“There! He’s there!” we pointed and shouted, as Gnocchi popped his head out of the ocean. He was officially on his way, and I sat in the sand and said a silent goodbye to my fellow wash-a-shore. I learned he was being tracked as he made his way to Canada.
“Which is really exciting,” Cojocaru told me. “And Ditalini is off of Nova Scotia!”
If you see a marine animal on the beach, remain 150 feet away, and call your local marine mammal stranding center if you have concerns.
Learn more about preventing and removing marine debris in your community.
