Why did the little seal pup leave the ocean, wander up the beach path, go one block up Middlesex Avenue, then cross three lanes of Long Beach Boulevard in Harvey Cedars?<\/p>\n
Who knows?<\/p>\n
Maybe it was just the long slick surface of post-storm snow and ice that urged the seal to keep going until a sunny spot in this beach town\u2019s southbound slow lane invited her to stretch out.<\/p>\n
Luckily for the grey seal pup, a landscaper on his way to plowing snow did not mistake her for a chunk of snow, and pulled over to block the roadway and help, Harvey Cedars Police Chief Robert Burnaford said later Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt approximately 7 o\u2019clock an innocent bystander was driving by and saw the seal laying in the Boulevard,\u201d Burnaford said by telephone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey called us, and the officers confirmed the seal was kind of just relaxing in the slow lane of Long Beach Boulevard,\u201d the chief said. \u201cLiterally it crossed over three lanes of traffic to where it was finally hanging out.\u201d<\/p>\n
A member of Public Works first wrapped the seal in his jacket and moved her to Middlesex Avenue, out of traffic, Burnaford said. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center responded and carried her to their truck, and then to their hospital in Brigantine.<\/p>\n
The Stranding Center put it this way on Instagram: \u201cPOV: When your nap shuts down a whole street.\u201d<\/p>\n
The center said in social media statements that the pup had no injuries but was in \u201cthin overall body condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is currently resting comfortably in Pen 2 of the Pool House,\u201d the center wrote.<\/p>\n