#21-010 is a female grey seal pup. She stranded in Belmar, NJ on February 11th, with small puncture wounds to her left front flipper and is very underweight, weighing only 32.4lbs.
This pup is less than two months old, and likely did not learn how to eat on her own after being weaned from her mother. Grey seals only nurse for about two weeks, and once weaned they are completely independent. Grey seal pups weigh about 30-35lbs when they are born, and by the time they are weaned they can triple their body weight. The pups will live off of their fat reserves as they learn to hunt for fish on their own. It seems this little one wasn't successfully feeding herself, so she dropped back down to close to birth weight.
After offering the pup live minnows in her pool, her instincts finally kicked in and initiated a feeding response. We are happy to report that #21-010 is already eating on her own! This little pup will stay with us until she gains some more weight before being released.
Update March 22nd- Grey seal #21-010 was moved to our 30' exercise pool to build up her muscles and increase her endurance in preparation for release.
Update April 5th- Grey seal #21-010, now weighing in at 60lbs, was tagged #30 and released at Sandy Hook Gateway National Park.