A 7-foot gray seal eluded an attempt to net it and splashed back into the Delaware River, where sightings have been occurring since Saturday.
Bob Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, in Brigantine, attempted to throw a net over the 300-pound male seal Tuesday in an area of woods and marshes in suburban Philadelphia, about 50 miles upriver from where the river becomes salty.
Schoelkopf said he had to release the net before the seal dragged it and Schoelkopf into the river. He said the animal was “very strong,” with “not a very good disposition.”
“He doesn’t like people. He doesn’t like to be looked at. And he doesn’t like having a net thrown over him,” Schoelkopf said.
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