Heavier, healthier young seal returns to ocean off MDI

SOUTHWEST HARBOR – Hector took little time Tuesday to shuffle his body into the water off Cable Crossing Lane, pausing only for a few moments to look at the people scattered around him on the beach.

Soon, he was halfway across Western Way toward Great Cranberry Island, leaving only a wake and well-wishers behind him.

Hector is a juvenile harp seal who flopped his way into the news a month ago when he was found in the local village of Manset. He was discovered in the middle of Route 102A, prompting an alert citizen to call the Police Department. Soon, police officers and firefighters were at the scene, making sure Hector was OK while representatives of Allied Whale at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor came to pick him up.

Rosemay Seton was one of the Allied Whale staffers who loaded Hector into a carrier and drove him to the Marine Animal Lifeline in Westbrook. On Tuesday, after he had gained back about 20 pounds, she brought the 78-pound Hector back to near where he was found on Feb. 28.

When he was found “he was really dehydrated,” Seton said of the seal. “He needed a blast of fluids. He ate rather well.”

Seton said harp seals historically have not been seen frequently in Maine, but over the past decade more and more of them have been heading south from their usual wintering grounds off Newfoundland in Canada. She said there are an estimated 7 million harp seals in the North Atlantic.

As the gate to Hector’s carrier was opened Tuesday on the beach, a couple dozen people stood nearby to watch and take photos as he headed back into the ocean. He had a white tag fastened harmlessly to his forehead that biologists used to identify him as he regained his health. The tag should fall off within a few months, Seton said.

After a few minutes, all the small crowd on the beach could see of Hector was his head popping out of the water, a black dot near the horizon.