Boston Seal's Death Chronicled in Tragic, Belated Report

BOSTON, MA — A “freak accident" took the life of popular New England Aquarium seal Commander this spring, according to Boston Magazine, which revealed the information for the first time in a story out Monday.

Staff writer Chris Sweeney chronicles the aquarium's aspirations for the northern fur seal (meant to help populate the species), its attempts to save him after he swallowed a roughly foot-long plastic toy, and the aquarium's devastation when those efforts failed.

This was the first time in the New England Aquarium's half-century of operation a seal has died like this, Vice President of Animal Care Mark Smith told Sweeney, dubbing Commander's death an “extraordinarily freak accident.”

You can read the full story from Boston Magazine here.