Why did the baby seal cross the road? It’s not a riddle for this Connecticut city

A baby seal ventured into the big city this weekend, after galumphing — that’s the technical term — his way into downtown New Haven, Conn.

Police officers got a call about a possibly injured seal pup just after 2 p.m. on Sunday, New Haven Police’s Christian Bruckhart told NPR over email.

He was found near Chapel and East streets, several blocks from the closest river. He was about a mile from the heart of Yale University’s campus, and flipper-distance from some of the city’s renowned pizza spots.

“We assumed he was here to try the clam pizza, but I can’t confirm that,” Bruckhart wrote. “We’re just happy he’s safe.”

Officers stayed with the seal until a crew from the nearby Mystic Aquarium arrived to pick him up.

The loose seal — also a famous sitcom plot point — has apparently been a recurring character in the New Haven area last week.

In the days before its rescue on Sunday, the seal was spotted in the neighboring town of Branford and, fittingly, outside a New Haven restaurant named Shell & Bones Oyster Bar and Grill, WTNH reported.

“My understanding from Mystic is that the seal was spotted several times over the past few days and they were monitoring it until they felt it needed assistance and picked it up for rehab,” Bruckhart wrote.

Mystic Aquarium said in a press release that the gray seal is male and estimated to be only a few weeks old. He was found to be “lethargic, dehydrated and in thin condition,” weighing only 28 pounds (newborn gray seals typically weigh 35 pounds).

Newborn gray seals nurse on high-fat milk for about three weeks, the aquarium added, “proving why this seal is lucky to have been rescued.” He is on fluid therapy and an individualized treatment plan, it says.

Aquarium spokesperson Cat McElhaney told NPR over email that the seal is “bright and alert, and showing interest in fish, though he is still not eating on his own.”

“In the meantime, he is being fed fish formula and is getting fish school (where we teach them that fish are food) daily,” she added.

The hope is he will eventually be strong enough to go home to the ocean.

“Mystic Aquarium is pleased to have rescued this misdirected young seal in need of help, and looks forward to hopefully returning the seal back to the ocean in the months ahead,” said Dr. Allison Tuttle, Mystic Aquarium’s Chief Zoological Officer.

How did he end up so far from home in the first place?

Mystic Aquarium animal rescue technician Francesca Battaglia told news outlets that he was most likely following his natural instincts away from the water and potential threats like bad weather and other seals.

“He’s probably just lost and figured that these are my instincts, but unfortunately, with the area being so developed, it’s not actually a safe place for him,” she told WTNH.

New Haven is situated on the coast of the Long Island Sound, where grey and harbor seals are often spotted. But seals venturing onto land tend to move up the beach, not all the way into the city as this one did, Battaglia told NBC Connecticut.

“He is on his own now, and he’s just trying to figure it out. But he’s a young animal,” Battaglia added. “And so sometimes those first few weeks without mom can be a little tough on these guys.”