It could be several months before a gray seal pup found on a street corner in New Haven can be released from Mystic Aquarium.
The seal was found Sunday afternoon by the New Haven Police Department. It was underweight and more than 1,000 feet from the nearest river.
"When he first came in, he was pretty malnourished, and we just wanted to make sure we were giving him all the supportive care he needed," said animal rescuer Allie Cojocaru. "So we did tube feed him for the first few days that he was here, kind of a gruel, a fish smoothie."
The seal is now stable, Cojocaru said.
Despite that bit of good news, the critter still hasn't yet learned to hunt on its own. So it's going to fish school — as rescuers offer it whole fish to help the seal learn to hunt.
"We'll toss the fish into a shallow pool that we're keeping these guys in, and let them put their heads underwater, and try to figure out how to align the fish up on their own," Cojocaru said.
"We have these long grabbers that we'll stick into the water to grab the fish, and swish it around in the water for them," Cojocaru continued. "The fish are dead that we're feeding to our seals, so we'll try to mimic some of the fish's movements."
Before the seal was found by police, he had been spotted in Guilford, Branford, and other parts of New Haven — including in people's yards, under a porch and near businesses.
Seal encounters have become more common along the Connecticut shore in recent years, Cojocaru said.
A group of gray seals have taken up year-round residence on Block Island. Gray seal pups are known to sometimes travel surprising distances inland.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
