Community Corner

Seal Washes Up on Hampton Beach

The animal drew a crowd of onlookers.

A harp seal washed up on Hampton Beach on Sunday, but an aquarium volunteer determined the animal was OK, according to WMUR.

The New England Aquarium sent a volunteer to the beach on Sunday to check on a harp seal that was out of the water, the television station reported. But the seal was determined to be healthy – it was just stressed out by a crowd of onlookers. The volunteer said the animal would go back into the water when it was ready.

The aquarium said hundreds of seals swim in from Canada at this time of year, and it's not unusual for them to come out of the water to rest. But people were understandably concerned, after more than 162 seals washed up on New England beaches last September, some of them on the New Hampshire Seacoast. The culprit was later determined to be a wild bird virus.

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