A young gray seal pup in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey, surprised early‑morning drivers when she wriggled over the dunes and plopped herself right in the middle of a residential road. Passersby alerted police, who blocked traffic while the pup—only six to eight weeks old—took a calm little nap as if this were the most natural place in the world.
A public works employee gently bundled her in his jacket to keep her safe until the Marine Mammal Stranding Center arrived. Rescuers found her uninjured but underweight, roughly the size she would have been at birth, and brought her in for rehabilitation and monitoring. Once she’s healthy again, the center plans to return this tiny wanderer to the wild where she belongs.