THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300531
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
TYPE: Local Briefs
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: 31 lines
A baby seal found four days ago on a Corolla beach is still being studied by biologists, who are trying to determine its species.
Liz Plymell, an aquarist at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, said that piece of information must be determined before the 47-pound seal is released to the wild.
``We're trying to determine exactly what species he is,'' Plymell said Wednesday. ``He could be a Harp seal, which are accustomed to the Northern waters. They don't come down this far very often. If he is a harp seal and we released him down here, we're afraid he would be disoriented. We don't want to release him in an area he doesn't know.''
Plymell said the seal - believed to be about a year old - was in good condition. He is being kept in a 300-gallon tank at the Roanoke Island aquarium. The tank is not in the public areas of the aquarium. Aquarium personnel are working with the National Marine Fisheries Service to help and eventually release the seal.
Betty Barnes, a 66-year-old Corolla resident, found the seal Sunday afternoon, staying with it for nearly 20 hours until volunteers from the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles came to her aid. The seal was transported to the North Carolina Aquarium on Monday.
``The turtle people did all they could,'' Barnes said. ``Everybody's doing all they can. He wouldn't eat anything but sand. I'm worried about the little guy.''