A gray seal that got into Shoe Pond in Beverly, Massachusetts turned itself into authorities Friday morning.
The aquatic mammal nicknamed “Shoebert” swam up the tide-swelled Bass River on Sept. 15 before going through a drainage tunnel to reach the pond. Attempts to wrangle the animal on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Early Friday morning, Shoebert left the water and waddled across a parking lot to the doorstep of the Beverly police station.
“We were able to get Shoebert into a special wildlife carrier without incident. Shoebert appeared to be in good health and was a little sassy in the early morning hours,” the Beverly Police Department wrote on Facebook.
The seal was apprehended with care, before being transported to an aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut. Aquarium staff will decide whether to release Shoebert back into the wild.
While Beverly residents were happy to host the seal, they also recognized that it belonged in its natural ocean habitat.
“He’s an ocean sea. We all don’t have to be seal experts to realize that this seal ultimately needs to be back in the ocean,” Steve Drohosky, the general manager of the suburban office park where Shoe Pond is located, told the Boston Globe.