Injured seals on Long Island: What to know and how to help

After a record-setting number of cold-stunned turtles washed ashore in New York this fall, Long Island’s marine rescuers anticipate their new patients will increasingly be seals, with some migrating down from Nova Scotia’s near arctic-like waters.

There has already been one false alarm this year: A young harbor seal with a wound by its belly that had taken refuge on a jetty in a residential area of East Moriches shortly before Christmas.

However, among the behaviors that revealed this juvenile needed no medical care was a classic: the banana pose, in which seals found on land raise both their heads and tails — rather like the yellow fruit, explained Maxine Montello, rescue program director at Riverhead’s New York Marine Rescue Center.

While adult harbor seals “will usually retreat to the water when approached,” youngsters instead often remain on land, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“They are commonly seen resting on their side in a 'banana' shape, on rocks along the coast," NOAA said.

Before injured seal pups begin arriving, rescuers have been coping with record numbers of cold-stunned sea turtles.

A total of 92 cold-stunned sea turtles have washed ashore in New York so far this year, topping the 2019 high of 85, according to records begun in 1986.

Only 41 have survived, as many drifted helplessly for weeks with the winds and tides, trapped up north when the sea cooled.

Green sea turtles, the largest hard-shell sea turtle, dominated this year's victims, followed by Kemp's Ridleys, the world’s smallest critically endangered sea turtle, and a couple of loggerheads, famed for their massive jaws.

The busiest East Coast sea turtle rescue, Boston's New England Aquarium, recovered 864 sea turtles from Cape Cod, spokeswoman Pam Bechtold Snyder said by email. Its peak of 730 was set in 2014.

Now, Long Islanders are being asked to keep an eye out for injured seals. Figuring out when seals need help, however, can be tricky.

Seals “haul out” to rest, socialize and regulate their body temperature, the state Department of Environmental Conservation says.

“A lot of people assume a seal on a beach or a jetty is unhealthy, but that’s just where they hauled out,” Montello said.

Lone seal pups set out on their own at four to six weeks, when they must start foraging for fish and shellfish.

“They actually live a solitary lifestyle,” Montello said, which is safer than risking clashes with adults.

Body position and condition are key telltales: “If they are lying flat out on their stomachs and are not alert when you walk by them, that is an animal that is probably in need of some medical attention,” said Montello.

Other warning signs are eye or nose discharges, “skinny body condition,” and any entanglements from fishing lines, hooks or trash.

Long Islanders hoping to help an injured seal should know that there are stiff civil and even criminal penalties for getting within 50 yards.

Signs that beachgoers are too close include “increased vocalizations,” returning to the sea, and “lifting their head to watch you, stretching, waving foreflippers and yawning,” according to NOAA.

Rescuers urge calling if there is any doubt.

Of concern this year is the possible spread of avian flu, which hit Maine’s seals this summer in what NOAA termed an “unusual mortality event.”

“Since June 2022, elevated numbers of harbor seal and gray seal mortalities have occurred across the southern and central coast of Maine,” NOAA said.
The influenza “stayed contained in Maine,” Allison Ferreira, a NOAA spokeswoman, said by email. “The event has quieted down since the summer, with no new cases on H5N1 since mid-July.”

But their Eastern Seaboard migrations risk spreading the flu, which could affect sea birds and ducks sharing beaches with seals.

Rehabilitation centers up and down the coast were on the alert for this virus, Montello said.

So far, New York has not had any seals test positive with this “highly pathogenic avian influenza,” the DEC said.