NEW YORK CITY — Staten Island's got their seal of approval.
About a dozen of the marine mammals were spotted off the coast of South Beach Monday, police officials said.
The seals were seen on Swinburne and Hoffman islands less than a mile away from Franklin D. Roosevelt Beach, according to a photo tweeted by NYPD Chief of Special Operations Division account on Monday afternoon.
Winter visitors in the New York Harbor. The seals at Swinburne & Hoffman Islands. @NYPD122Pct @NYPD60Pct @NYPD120Pct pic.twitter.com/vUdxXD8BXX
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) January 19, 2015
The number of seals spotted in New York Harbor has increased in recent years according to the Riverhead Foundation, which has been monitoring and documenting New York seals since 1996.
Seals have been spotted regularly on the city's shores in recent months.
The tweet was first reported by Gothamist.