The National Aquarium in Baltimore's Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) released a harbor seal in Ocean City, Maryland, after a two-month rehabilitation period at the Aquarium. The female seal was initially found stranded on the beach at 145th Street in Ocean City on January 2, 2008.
MARP volunteers named the seal Secca, which means "dry" in Italian, because of her preference for lounging dry on the deck over getting wet in the rehabilitation pool.
Rehabilitated and Released
Secca was admitted to the rehabilitation program due to emaciation, dehydration, and an injury to a front flipper. After she was admitted, she gained nearly 30 pounds through a solid diet of herring and capelin, and interacted with enrichments when offered.
This is not the last the Aquarium will see of Secca—she was fitted with a satellite tag provided by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, which will transmit information about her latest location.
Secca is the 80th animal to be released by the National Aquarium.
