Rescued Seal Pippi Is Back In The Ocean

Pippi, a gray seal rescued at Dewey Beach in February, has been successfully rehabilitated at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and is now back in her ocean home.

The Marine Education Research Rehabilitation Institute, or MERR, coordinated the rescue nine months ago. Pippi had a number of ailments, was malnourished and dehydrated and appeared to have an infected front flipper when she was found.

Pippi required additional treatment due to an ear infection, and advanced diagnostics were challenging due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic at the time.

“Pippi’s rehabilitation case is the longest seal case we have had since our program began in 1991,” Director of Animal Rescue at the National Aquarium Jennifer Dittmar said. “While we did not initially anticipate Pippi to be such a complicated case, we are truly thankful for the partners, staff, volunteers and doctors who have helped get Pippi to this point. She is a fighter and we are very proud to have made it to the moment of releasing her back into the ocean.”