Seal Sanctuary in Hel takes care of young seal pup spotted crossing the street

The author of the video spotted the seal crossing the road on Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. He said, that after getting out of the sea, the seal went in the direction of the bay. The footage shows that, after crossing the road, the animal was moving along the snow-covered roadside. Władysławowo was among the northern areas which had experienced snowfall on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The man packed the young male pup into his car and took it the city guard station.

"Residents spotted a seal moving along a busy road near the gas station at Starowiejska Street in Władysławowo. One driver stopped, tucked the seal in a tarp and brought it to us," said the chief of Władysławowo City Guard Adam Marciniak.

He added that the seal had crawled some 100 metres. "It got across dunes, railway tracks, and the pavement. At the city guard station, the officers were pouring water on the pup and waited for experts from Hel Seal Sanctuary to arrive," Marciniak explained.

The animal has been transported to the Sea Station in Hel, where it will undergo rehabilitation. "The seal pup which went out to the street (...) is under our care now," the Seal Sanctuary wrote on social media on Wednesday.

Chief of seal carers at the Sea Station in Hel, Wioleta Miętkiewicz, said the animal went out from water onto the beach and kept on going forward. "It happens sometimes. Once we found a different seal in a forest," she added. "It's sleeping now. It has minor wounds on its body and is a bit emaciated. It has to recover, gain some weight, and then we will let it go free," Miętkiewicz said.

At the moment there are 16 young seals at Professor Krzysztof Skóra Sea Station, as well as a breeding herd of five specimens.

Three species of these marine mammals live in the Baltic Sea: gray seal (Halichoerus grypus), ringed seal (Phoca hispida) and harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). Also known as pinnipeds, seals are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine animals.

Seals can often be seen giving birth to offspring in the beaches. They should not be approached at a close distance. As any other animal, they can be aggresive when scared.

If you see a seal which is ill, faint, or has visible wounds, you should immediately notify experts at the Gdańsk University Sea Station in Hel and follow their advice.