Seal finally leaves Beverly pond, waddles to police station in middle of night
BEVERLY - There is a whale of a tale unfolding in Beverly and an ever-loving seal is at the center of it.
People first started to notice 'Shoebert' last week. Folks named after Shoe Pond where he had been making himself at home. The pond is just upstream from the mouth of the Salem Canal.
"He knew to stay away from the boat and the nets. He would come close enough that [people] would get pretty good pictures of him."
Beverly Police Chief John LeLacheur said Shoebert showed signs of familiarity being around humans. LeLacheur has roughly 40 years in law enforcement but said he had never experienced a story like this.
By Thursday, Beverly Police, along with animal patrol and a team from the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, were working together to safely remove Shoebert from the pond. But their efforts fell short.
The sunset and rescue crews called it a night, but Shoebert had other plans.
Around 2:30 a.m. Friday, Shoebert got on the move. The seal made his way out of the pond and through a shopping center parking lot. After moving about 300 yards, police said the seal ended up at their front door.
Police officers made their way out and found the seal along a fence. Police said they quickly called the team at the Mystic Aquarium who came out to safely capture Shoebert and drive him back to Connecticut.
When the folks with Mystic arrived, they recognized some of the scarring on Shoeberts face and ultimately determined they had seen the seal before. Turns out, they had rescued Shoebert off Cape Cod in 2018.
"We do know the seal," said Sarah Callan with the Animal Rescue Program at the Mystic Aquarium. "He is about four or five years old. It has come full circle. We are back where we started back then, but we are going to be releasing him as soon as possible."
The aquarium said Shoebert seems to be in good health but will perform tests and blood work before releasing the seal back into the ocean. This time with a GPS tracking device.
