National Aquarium Rescues Grey Seal Pup Found Stranded, Hurt

BALTIMORE, MD — The National Aquarium announced it recently rescued a grey seal pup too young to survive in the ocean without its mother.

Aquarium staff in Baltimore said they welcomed the pup Feb. 26 to the Animal Care and Rescue Center.

The pup was rescued from Assateague Island National Seashore where he was found stranded and dehydrated with wounds of unknown origin to his face and left flipper, the aquarium said.

He's been nicknamed Louis Armstrong in keeping with the National Aquarium's 2021-2022 rescue season naming theme of musicians and instruments.

Weighing in at just 35 pounds, the National Aquarium said its team was quickly able to determine that Louis was born sometime in January and, in the wild, would still be dependent on his mother for nourishment, leaving him vulnerable to predators and susceptible to malnutrition on his own.

Since arriving at the ACRC last month, Louis has been treated with antibiotics to address infections resulting from the wounds to his face and flipper, according to the National Aquarium.

Its animal rescue team said it is now working with Louis to master independent swimming and foraging for food, which are skills he will need to survive on his own after his eventual release.

Louis is the third maternally-dependent seal admitted to the ACRC over the past year. According to the National Aquarium, this indicates a trend that the Animal Rescue team is looking at carefully.

"The ongoing presence of grey seals, in particular, indicates the possible establishment of a rookery in mid-Atlantic waters," the aquarium said in a news release. "While the National Aquarium's Animal Rescue staff cannot say with certainty where any individual rescued seal is from or what led them to haul up on a mid-Atlantic beach, it stands to reason that it will continue to see grey seal rescue cases."

Louis will remain at the ACRC until he is cleared for release, the aquarium said.