Kids & Family

Seal Rescued at Atlantic Beach Ready to be Released

Written by Erica Jackson

The Riverhead Foundation on Saturday will be releasing a one-year-old Harbor seal at Iron Pier Beach in Jamesport. 

The seal, who the foundation named Penny, was rescued near the Sands Beach Club in Atlantic Beach after a concerned citizen called the Riverhead Foundation’s Rescue Hotline.

The foundation determined that Penny was just 5-6 days old and had been separated from her mother. 

The foundation said it took Penny in and supplied her with a high fat diet that she would normally get from her mother’s milk. She was tube fed a special milk replacement formula that is high in nutrients, fat, and electrolytes in an effort to help her gain weight. 

Now, the foundation said, Penny is eating fish on her own and has grown strong enough to be released back into the ocean. 

Penny will be released on Saturday at 1 p.m.


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