Seal Season Has Begun in New York State

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is reminding New Yorkers that seal season has officially started. There are tons of seal spottings that are reported to the New York State DEC and they want to remind everyone that you cannot get close to the seals and that they are not ACTUALLY in distress.

What kind of seals are there in the wild in New York State?

Harbor and grey seals especially are spotted around this time of year as they try and get some sun bathing in now that the weather is getting past the freezing mark on a more regular basis. Of course, for some parts of New York State, this is a very normal thing to see, while around Western New York, this is not even a thing. Think: Western New York sees deer in their backyards while a lot of residents on the EASTERN part of New York State, have a beach in their backyard along the Atlantic Ocean and they deal with seals.

Of course, when people see them randomly on the land in public places, most people will think that they are in distress, but they make their way back eventually to the ocean without any help.

They can travel kind of far too on land which makes it unusual for a lot of residents when they first see them. Last year, a seal was spotted on one of the airport runways, while another one was just chilling sun bathing in the middle of a roundabout that was causing a lot of distraction on the road.