Brigantine seal stranding center very busy

BRIGANTINE, N.J. - The place has looked like an overbooked hotel for seals - or more precisely, a hospital with few empty beds.

Since January, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center has rescued about 100 harp, harbor, and gray seals at the Jersey Shore - double the usual number.

The sweet-faced but fierce little creatures missed the migratory boat to the Arctic after pummeling storms pushed them off course during a nasty winter and early spring, according to Bob Schoelkopf, the center's founder and director.

Meager feeding opportunities left some malnourished. Others were injured in collisions or entanglements with fishing equipment. A few had infected wounds after being bitten by other animals.

The revolving door at the facility, which can house 20 of the pinnipeds, has been overwhelming at times, Schoelkopf said.

"We've just never seen this many over the course of one winter," said Sheila Dean, the center's codirector. "It isn't just seals, it's other animals, too - like the whale that was found on the beach [in Mantoloking, Ocean County] and brought in last week."

Seals are mostly Arctic dwellers, but some species, mostly harbor seals, have colonized farther south over the last three decades, according to Laura Bankey, manager of conservation for the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Biologists theorize that increasing seal populations and human habitat encroachment have contributed to the animals' making homes as far south as the northern Chesapeake Bay, Bankey said.

The New Jersey coast, where the Atlantic meets the Delaware Bay, is a perfect landing for wayward sea creatures, especially in stormy years. Many of the grounded seals taken to the center are yearlings, born in the spring or summer, that were exhausted and near starvation after drifting from their nurturing colonies.

The unrelenting nor'easters and severe snow created a difficult environment for migrating and overwintering marine species, Schoelkopf said. And the New Jersey coastline seems to have been a refuge.

No other eastern beaches have experienced an unusually high number of marine mammal strandings, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

"The weather created a lot of problems," Schoelkopf said. "Some [seals] couldn't make it back to their usual breeding grounds up north in time to give birth. And this coast is like a funnel for these species."

Evidence of that was a three-week-old harp seal found on Long Beach Island on April 20. Pups usually are Arctic-born, but this one obviously was from much closer because he was molting his white fur, a process that takes place shortly after birth.

At times the center has been so busy that the staff housed seals anywhere it could find room: in holding tanks in the intensive-care unit, in rehabilitation pools, in portable tanks and pools set up just for overflow.

A "comfortable" capacity is about a dozen seals, said Dean, who is married to Schoelkopf. The center has housed as many as 20 this year. Thirteen are now being treated.

Each seal undergoes triage to identify issues beyond malnutrition or fatigue, such as injuries or parasites. Besides fattening them up, antibiotics, vitamins, and other supplements may be provided.

A seal is fed several pounds of mackerel, herring or squid a day. It can cost up to $2,000 per animal for a six-week stay, according to Schoelkopf, whose nonprofit agency relies on donations and grants.

Since 1978, the stranding center has rescued more than 3,500 whales, dolphins, seals, sea turtles, and even a manatee from coastal waters, he said. It is the only facility in the state licensed to rescue and rehabilitate stressed and injured marine mammals.

The center allows the public to "adopt" individual seals. For $25, a donor receives a certificate bearing his or her name, and a photo of the seal and its history since it was found. When animals are fully recovered, most are released back to the sea - in secret locations so they won't be bothered by curious onlookers.

If someone discovers a stranded seal, experts recommend that authorities be called. The creature's gentle eyes and whiskered face belie an aggressive disposition, and an encounter can produce a harmful bite, Schoelkopf said.

While visitors may not see convalescing animals at the stranding center, they may visit its Sea Life Education Center, museum, and gift shop at 3525 Brigantine Blvd. Current hours of operation - Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. - will be expanded in the summer. For more information, call 609-266-0538.