Sassafras’s Release

On March 19^th, the National Marine Life Center’s Animal Care Team received a call from our friends at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to see if we had room to potentially take on a new case.

NMLC was available to help! After IFAW monitored this young of a year, grey seal for the day, their team decided that medical intervention was the best avenue.  Sassafras was collected from Nauset Beach, Orleans, MA.

Our veterinarian, Dr. Williams, found that Sassafras was underweight, exhibiting respiratory distress and was previously tagged by another organization that was infected. Sassafras treatment plan included antibiotics, fluid therapy, nebulizer treatments, the infected tag was removed and last but not least, she was de-wormed for parasites.

Once Sassafras regained her strength, she started to eat on her own. In less than a month she was ready to head back out. She came in weighing 73 pounds and left at 103 pounds! Sassy broke records and now is the largest animal NMLC has ever cared for.

On Saturday, April 18^th, Sassy was released at Scusset Beach Reservation, Sandwich, MA. A local radio station DJ announced all week how ‘Saturday will be the first beach day of the summer’ and he sure lived up to those words. An outpour of supporters came out and cheered Sassy on as she made her way back in to the surf. Good luck, Sassafras!