UPDATE: ORLANDO, Fla. — An Arctic seal found in Florida far from its natural habitat near the North Pole has been taken to SeaWorld for treatment.
The bearded seal is thin and dehydrated, responding when touched by staff members but otherwise resting quietly, Dr. Christopher Dold, a staff veterinarian at SeaWorld, said late Monday.
A seal from the Arctic spotted in Florida’s warm waters shouldn’t be thousands of miles from its natural habitat. Wildlife officials are concerned and attempting to rescue it.
The so-called bearded seal was first spotted Thursday south of Stuart and was said to appear sickly. It had been seen swimming south in the Intercoastal Waterway and officials had hoped to capture it today. It eluded rescue teams.
It is not clear how long the 300-pound seal can live in Florida’s warm waters and scientists say its chances of surviving are slim unless it is rescued.
Officials say the animal appeared dehydrated and thin, with its eyes sunken and its neck not as thick as it should be.
I’ve lived in Florida all my life and this is the first time I remember this happening.
It is “funny” how otherwise reliable wilderness critters can get off track.
A bud in the Forest Service led me out to a mesa a dozen years – here in NM – to catch a sighting of a variety of curlew that shouldn’t have been within a thousand miles of this latitude.
They don”t say who, exactly, saw the creature… “officials” Pfft. Why no name?
I’ll go along with it, but I’ve never seen anything large in the Intercoastal except dolphins and manatees. And we know a manatee looks a lot like a bearded seal…
I wonder if that’s related to a bearded clam??
“I wonder if that’s related to a bearded clam??”
Let’s not bring Paris Hilton into this, shall we?
What is the difference between a walrus and Tupperware? They both like a tight seal.
Embarassed officials today issued a correction to yesterday’s erroneous report of a seal in Florida waters. It turned out that the “seal” was actually Wilford Brimley in a wetsuit.
this seal is an asshole! lord knows how much ammunition his survival this far south is giving those who couldn’t care less about global warming. the best thing to do here is to spend a couple of million sending him back north making sure he successfully gets back into arctic life.
Live it alone, it’s the gene pool being cleansed.
“I wonder if that’s related to a bearded clam??”
Let’s not bring Paris Hilton into this, shall we?
Haven’t you seen the pics? No beard on that clam.
Probably smells like caviar, too.