By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — A spotted gray seal was still basking in the sun Thursday, a day after it came ashore on a small Upper Manhattan beach.
Parks officials stood near the female seal taking photos from a cordoned off area on the beach at Dyckman Street and the Hudson River Thursday morning.
A marine biologist gave the seal a clean bill of health, but officials continued monitoring the situation to maintain its safety and health, according to Rob DiGiovanni, the director and senior biologist for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.
"It appears to be doing what a normal seal would do, it just seems to be a very popular seal," DiGiovanni said, noting that although it is uncommon to find seals on the city waterfront, "it is not as unusual as it was a decade ago."
DiGiovanni said the group would likely leave the seal to the shore, believing it would soon return to the water.
"We prefer not to stress them out, but it's always a difficult line to balance between protecting them and leaving them in their habitat," DiGiovanni said.
A small group of men stood behind an iron fence separating the beach from a parking lot hoping to catch a glimpse of the seal on Thursday. The men said they spend time at the inlet and had never seen a seal before.
"I fish here all the time and have never seen anything like this," said Mauricio Gomez, 57.
A Twitter account has already been set up for the seal, following a popular trend of personifying famous New York animals online. The missing Bronx Zoo cobra (@BronxZoosCobra) garnered several laughs on Twitter last month and just a few weeks ago the Governor’s Island stray cat (@GovsIslandCat) got in the act.
"Sorry folks for the delay in between tweets," @UptownSeal wrote on Thursday. "It's not easy with flippers instead of fingers."
The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation says city residents who spot animals like the seal should call the Riverhead hotline to report sightings.
