Mystic releases
healed seals from Narragansett boat launch site instead of Charlestown beaches
By Will Collette
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| Casseopeia (right) was first out of the gate (Photos by Will Collette) |
I sure hope this
doesn’t become a regular thing and that Mystic Aquarium comes back to
Charlestown for its seal releases. As many readers know, the terrific folks at
the Marine
Animal Rescue program at Mystic Aquarium have regularly
used Charlestown beaches when they release seals (or sea lions) back into
the wild after they’ve been patched up by Mystic’s veterinary staff.
The Mystic program
is one of the few on the East coast that takes in injured, sick or abandoned
marine mammals and restores them to health so they can be returned to the sea.
This latest
release took place not at Charlestown Town Beach or Blue Shutters but at the
boat launch at State Pier 5 in Narragansett. As always, the release was fun. I
find it’s something that never gets old.
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| Casseopeia gives the crowd one last look before taking the plug |
This time,
Mystic had two roughly six month old gray seals, Cassiopeia and Athena, who were
healthy enough to go back out to sea.
The pier site was
pretty crowded and parking was very awkward, even for the Mystic crew. It was a mess trying to untangle all the vehicles after the release was completed.
Instead
of being released on soft, shallow sloped beach sand, the seals were released
on more sharp sloped hard concrete.
This wasn’t much
of a problem for Cassiopeia who was ready to go almost as soon as the gate on
her carrier was opened. Athena was reluctant to even leave her cage.
I’ve seen pairs releases several times and it’s not uncommon for one seal to be
more eager than the other. But Athena seemed especially shy. Cassiopeia stayed
close to the waterline and almost seemed to be beckoning to Athena to get with
the program.
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| Athena wasn't so sure this was a good idea - it took a relatively long time before she was ready to join Casseopeia in the water |
When Athena
finally left the carrier, she actually turned to try to move up the ramp rather than down to the
water and had to be blocked off by the Mystic staff.
Finally, she got
the message that her only option was to join Cassiopeia in the water, whereupon
they took off for deeper water.
By coincidence, my
sister was visiting and we went straight from Kingston Amtrak to the State
Pier. After that, we drove out to the Mystic Aquarium to see the rest of the
good work they do.
Cathy and I also
decided it was time for us to become Mystic
Aquarium members because we think their work in public education,
environment and marine mammal rescue is terrific. An added bonus is that, as
members, we get free admission.