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Baby seal with neck entangled in plastic rescued in New Jersey amid annual pup migration
Every year, baby gray seals embark on a journey from their birth sites in New England and Canadian waters to the New Jersey area. But that trek isn’t without struggle, and last week, one seal pup was found in “urgent” condition — with plastic wrapped around its neck.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center said they received a call about the exhausted pup on the afternoon of Feb. 15 after it was found in Beach Haven, New Jersey. When their team arrived, the organization said it found the seal “entangled around the neck by the plastic overwrap from a case of bottled water.”
They took the young female gray seal to their facilities, where they removed the plastic and found the animal to be “thin…lethargic and suffering from gastrointestinal issues.” A full exam was completed for veterinarians to determine if there are any other underlying issues, and the seal was fed formula and electrolytes.
Marine Mammal Stranding Center/Facebook
That same day, another pup, a male thought to be between 2 and 3 weeks old, was found on Brigantine Beach – so young he was still 80% covered in his birth coat, the center said. Rescuers believe he hadn’t yet learned to eat on his own, as gray seals typically only nurse for roughly two weeks before becoming fully independent.
The baby seals were discovered in New Jersey as “the annual grey seal pup migration is in full swing in our area,” the stranding center said. “These pups are born starting December through February, and only nurse for about two weeks before their mothers wean them. Many pups are now making the long swim from their birthing grounds in New England and Canadian waters to New Jersey.”
The journey is over 300 miles, the center said.
This rescued pup belongs to the United States’ only stock of gray seals, a protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. There are roughly 450,000 gray seals in that stock, known as the western North Atlantic stock, which resides in North Atlantic waters and includes Canada.
The animals can typically live between 25 to 35 years, but face serious threats. Entanglement is perhaps the greatest threat, NOAA says, with many of the animals becoming twisted up in fishing gear and other marine debris. Pollution, illegal harassment, oil spills and vessel strikes are also dangers.
“Once entangled, seals may drown if they cannot reach the surface to breathe, or they may drag and swim with attached gear for long distances,” NOAA says. “This can ultimately result in fatigue, compromised feeding ability, or severe injury, which may lead to reduced reproductive success and death.”
The stranding center said it typically sees surges in seal intakes around this time of year.
“They are all typically born during a short window of time and migrating at the same time,” the center said. “They have been spotted as far south as the Outer Banks, NC already this year.”
News of the young female pup’s rescue came along with a more grim announcement from the center — a young male gray seal that was found stranded and wandering down the road in Ocean City, New Jersey, earlier this month had died. The seal was found between 4 to 6 weeks old and was believed to have travel more than a quarter of a mile on shore.
The center said the underweight pup had been treated for parasites and a possible respiratory infection and that they were hopeful he would be OK after he started eating smaller fish on his own.
“However, on the evening of February 19th the pup showed a very sudden and rapid decline, and despite the extraordinary efforts by our staff to resuscitate him, the pup passed away only a few minutes later. A full necropsy will be performed to provide insight on what may have caused him to go down so quickly,” the center said. “This is always the hardest part of animal rescue.”
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These days, you’ll find Peggy Noonan in many places: in front of commencement crowds, at political round tables, and for the past quarter-century, in the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal. But when she was just starting out in Washington, D.C., you could find Noonan at the Off the Record Bar, near her job at the White House. “I would sit over there by myself, I would order a beer or a glass of wine, and I’d just quietly sit and read,” she said.
In 1984, Noonan joined President Ronald Reagan’s staff, after working at CBS in New York. At first, she felt like an outsider in the buttoned-up West Wing, but soon became an acclaimed speechwriter. Early on, she wrote Reagan’s moving speech for D-Day’s 40th anniversary.
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Then, when the Challenger shuttle tragically exploded, Noonan was given a tough assignment: write Reagan’s address to a distraught nation. “I had a feeling of, that didn’t work, nothing worked, because nothing was worthy of that moment; nothing was worthy of that day,” she said. “But then Frank Sinatra called – he called that night to the White House to say, ‘Mr. President, you just said what needed to be said.’ And Frank didn’t call after every speech!”
By the late eighties, Noonan had cemented a reputation as a wordsmith, and Reagan turned to her for his farewell address:
“We made the city stronger, we made the city freer. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.”
George H.W. Bush turned to Noonan, too, as he rallied Republicans on his way to the White House. “You know, part of life is luck,” she said. “It was not lucky to follow dazzling Ronald Reagan and be plainer, seeming sturdy George H.W. Bush. But I believe history was not – certainly in his time – sufficiently fair to him.”
That opinion is one of many found in the pages of her new book, “A Certain Idea of America,” a collection of her recent work (to be published Tuesday by Portfolio).
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Asked what her idea of America is today, Noonan replied, “Big, raucous, troubled, frayed.”
Noonan’s columns often delve into questions of character and leadership. “What I do not perceive now is many politicians who are actually saying, Guys, this is not good for the country. We’ve been given this beautiful thing called America. Shine it up! Keep it going!”
Costa said, “You have a lot of fun in this book, doing what you call taking the stick to certain people from time to time.”
“I don’t mind the stick at all,” said Noonan. “When I see something that I think is just awful, I love to get mad at it. I got mad at John Fetterman.”
“You don’t like that he’s wearing shorts?”
“It’s okay with me that he wears shorts,” she replied, “but he is not allowed to change the rules of the U.S. Senate to accommodate him in his little shorts and hoodie because he enjoys dressing like a child.”
Noonan, now 74, grew up in the Democratic strongholds of New York and New Jersey. “And I was very happy with that, because Democrats were cooler than Republicans,” she said. “Democrats were little Bobby Kennedy, and Republicans were, like, Dick Thornburgh!”
But in Reagan, she saw something fresh. “You looked at him, you saw his confidence, and it made you feel optimistic,” she said.
The Gipper, of course, no longer dominates the Republican Party, and President-elect Trump’s victory could transform the GOP even more in the coming years. “In terms of policy, the Republican Party has changed by becoming, not a standard, usual conservative party, but a populist party,” Noonan said. “Its issues have changed very much. But also, the edge of anger and resentment and, I’m afraid, a little paranoia that is in the Republican Party now would be something that Reagan did not recognize.”
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At the Off the Record Bar, the faces on the wall – caricatures of politicians of the past – and at the tables still catch her eye. For Noonan, it’s all part of the story – America’s, and her own.
Costa said, “In a way, you’re still the writer in the corner watching everybody at the bar in Washington.”
“Yeah, I like to watch them, she said. “They’re human, and you bring a little warmth to it, a little humor, and always bring your stick and smack them when you need to! It’s kind of nice.”
READ AN EXCERPT: “A Certain Idea of America” by Peggy Noonan
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Story produced by David Rothman. Editor: Joseph Frandino.
