Three-week-old seal pup rescued after wandering onto a road on Nantucket

A baby seal was rescued on Polpis Road on Nantucket Island Jan. 10 after a crossing guard found him and called Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket (MMAN), the organization said in a Facebook post.

MMAN, a nonprofit marine mammal rescue and protection agency on Nantucket, received a call about the nearly three-week-old pup at 7:45 a.m. from crossing guard Jamie Grimes, who “kept him safe” until volunteer team members arrived, MMAN said in the post. 

“After a bit of bushwhacking, we safety crated the healthy youngster and transported him to a safe spot in Quidnet where he can rest in full view of the sea and head out when he’s rested and ready,” the post read. 

In a video posted to the Nantucket Current’s X page, the pup can be seen trying to move himself along the road, which is near Sesachacha Pond, the post said.  MMAN told the Nantucket Current that the pup is “chubby” and “healthy,” and while he did sustain a minor laceration during his escapade, it will likely heal on its own. 

In the same Facebook post, MMAN said another pup was reported near the Sesachacha beach and that residents should keep a lookout for pups as they can “pop up anywhere.”

MMAN told The Boston Globe that seal pup rescues are common around this time of year because it is “pupping season,” or a period when seals are being born and left alone by their mothers for “extended periods of time,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

It is normal for seals to be on land to rest and shed hair, according to NOAA, and pups may haul themselves out of the water for up to a week. Mothers will often leave their pups on land while they hunt and forage for themselves, but issues can arise when baby seals are left on busy beaches or near visitor locations and “flush” back into the water, leading their mothers to abandon them or leaving them without an adequate place to rest and evade predators. 

“Newborn pups are also showing up all over our shores right now, resting or waiting for mom and some breakfast,” MMAN said in a Jan. 7 post on its Facebook page. 

MMAN also told the Globe that rough ocean waters could be causing some pups to seek refuge on land. 

The volunteer rescue organization asked that anyone who sees a seal pup call their hotline as soon as possible, saying delays in response can cause the pup to flush or be abandoned. 

“We need eyes on these babies. And ALWAYS stay back 150’,” MMAN said on Facebook. “Otherwise you will stress or flush the pup and, to be blunt, it’s against the law.”

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