Wednesday, February 27 – OC Eyes Harbor Seal Release

OCEAN CITY – The National Aquarium in Baltimore’s Marine Animal Rescue Program will release a harbor seal in Ocean City next week after a two-month rehabilitation period at the Aquarium.

The female seal, nicknamed Secca, was initially found stranded on the beach at 145th Street in Ocean City on Jan. 2.

According to the aquarium, Secca was admitted to the rehabilitation program due to emaciation, dehydration and an injury to a front flipper. She has gained nearly 30 pounds since being admitted through a solid diet of herring and capelin and is interacting with enrichments when offered.

Secca is the 80th animal to be released by the aquarium. Her name was chosen by the aquarium volunteers. Secca means “dry” in Italian and refers to how the seal prefers to rest “dry” on the deck versus lounging in the water.

The aquarium’s rescue program released its first rehabilitated animal, also a seal, on April 11, 1991, a year after the program’s inception. In the past 17 years, the program, comprised almost entirely of volunteers, has responded to hundreds of stranded animals.

The release will take place on Monday, March 3 at 9 a.m. in Ocean City on 40th Street. See next week’s Dispatch for photos.

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