An underweight baby seal is getting all the fish it could want at an aquarium after being rescued off the streets of Connecticut near Yale University.
The seal was found Sunday afternoon by the New Haven Police Department after a passerby called to report spotting a potentially injured seal, according to officer Christian Bruckhart, a police department spokesperson. The seal was more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) from the nearest river.
“We assumed he was here to try the clam pizza but I can’t confirm that, we’re just happy he’s safe,” Bruckhart said in an email.
Officers stayed with the seal until it was able to be moved to Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, for rehabilitation.
Officers visited the seal on Tuesday at the aquarium, where staffers were working to get it up to an ideal weight so the animal could be released. They plan to release the seal in a safer spot, possibly along the eastern shoreline, but not too far from where it was found, said Bruckhart.
The gray seal, believed to be about five to six weeks old, had been spotted by aquarium staff at least two other times since last week, according to WTNH-TV. They moved the animal to a beach, but it just made its way back to the middle of the city, likely working off instincts to get away from water and other seals that could hurt it.
Gray seals are found in coastal waters across the North Atlantic Ocean and typically feast on fish, crustaceans, squid, octopuses, and sometimes seabirds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They weigh about 35 pounds (16 kilograms) when they’re born and in the first three weeks typically gain about 3 pounds (1.4 kilogram) per day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.