New Jersey
Meet the stranded seals nursing back to health in NJ
BRIGANTINE – It’s seal stranding season in New Jersey, which means the Marine Mammal Stranding Center is busy.
For more than 45 years, the center has nursed marine mammals and turtles back to health across the state. Since opening in 1978, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center has responded to over 6,000 incidents, according to its website.
While the center has dealt with an escaped California sea lion and a beluga whale in the Delaware River, the vast majority of cases involve seals, sea turtles and bottlenose dolphins.
Many of the center’s seals are found on beaches, but it’s illegal to approach or touch them. The center recommends staying at least 150 feet away from a seal and contacting the center at (609) 266-0538 immediately.
More: They rescue ailing seals — plus dolphins, turtles and whales — along Jersey’s shores
There are currently three seals at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center’s intensive care unit. Here’s a little more about each of them.
Grey seal found on Point Pleasant Beach sidewalk
On Jan. 12, a jogger found a four-week-old seal pup lying on the sidewalk along Baltimore Avenue in Point Pleasant Beach, likely after a coastal storm that breached the bulkhead at Lake Louise. The seal was transported to the center, where technicians have had to help her eat fish and fluids because she was not eating on her own. The seal is lethargic and thin, weighing less than 28 pounds.
The seal is in guarded condition, and the Marine Mammal Stranding Center expects to know more about her prognosis soon. She’s currently being kept in a dry tank, with supervised swimming time due to her weakened condition.
Grey seal rescued from beach in Sea Bright
On Jan. 11, a four-week-old grey seal was found on the beach in Sea Bright. After arriving at the center, the 35-pound seal responded well to feeding, eventually eating on his own, and has since shed his lanugo, a white coat visible on young seals weeks after birth.
The center expects to release the seal back into the wild after he’s fully recovered and gains weight.
Harbor seal bitten by shark on Long Beach Island
On Christmas Day, the center responded to reports of an injured harbor seal in Surf City. Technicians found the seal with a large laceration on his left hip and multiple smaller wounds on his abdomen and tail.
Veterinarians at the center determined the seal was likely bitten by a shark, and administered both oral and topical medications.
The seal’s smaller wounds have almost healed completely, and the large laceration is starting to heal, as well, the center said in a Facebook post. The center expects to upgrade him from the intensive care unit to a pool in the coming weeks.
More: Jenkinson’s Aquarium mourns loss of Luseal, a ‘local at heart’
Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and a little bit of everything else. He’s won a few awards that make his parents very proud. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.
Police fired tear gas and used horses to push back protesters outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark, after nights of demonstrations over conditions inside. New Jersey’s governor put state police in charge and set up protected protest zones.
Published On 30 May 2026
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In New Jersey, Mercer County officials have enacted new policies limiting the ability of federal immigration agents to access and use county property to conduct immigration enforcement operations.
Mercer County Executive Dan Benson issued an executive order and the Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution Friday that bans U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol from using any nonpublic area on county property to enforce immigration law, unless they have obtained a judicial warrant or judicial order.
“From Minneapolis to Delaney Hall, ICE has repeatedly shown a total disregard for the law and for the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens alike,” Benson said in a statement. “We respect the Federal Government’s authority to enforce immigration law, but we will not allow them to use County properties to harass our families.”
“With this resolution, we’re sending a clear message that everyone in our community can safely interact with County government, and access County services, without fear,” said Board of Commissioners Chair Terrance Stokes in a statement. “ICE’s actions threaten the fabric of our community, and we will take whatever steps we can, within the bounds of the law, to protect our residents.”
New Jersey and New York City commuters are facing extensive delays in and out of New York Penn Station Friday, with intensifying ripple effects, after an Amtrak work train car on one of the hub’s tracks caught fire.
The FDNY says it was called to the Midtown scene on 31st Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, around 1:30 a.m. Nearly 100 personnel responded. Five civilians were evaluated at the scene by EMS, officials say.
It’s not clear what sparked the fire involving Amtrak’s contractor maintenance vehicles in one of the Hudson River Tunnels. It was knocked down well before 6 a.m., but service on New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and more was expected to see heavy impacts well into the morning rush, with Hudson River trains operating at reduced capacity. Amtrak said it didn’t expect to lift its suspension until at least noon.
Travel Advisory: Due to unforeseen track and signal maintenance resulting from a now extinguished fire in the New York area, all services traveling south of New York (NYP) are temporarily suspended. This suspension is anticipated to be in place until noon at a minimum. Services…
— Amtrak Northeast (@AmtrakNECAlerts) May 29, 2026
New Jersey Transit and LIRR also announced delays and cancellations. Cross-honoring and diversion programs were in effect as the situation developed. Complete LIRR service at NY Penn had resumed by around 7 a.m., Friday said, though equipment issues were causing cancellations. Get the latest transit information here.
Video from outside Penn Station showed smoke billowing in the pre-dawn hours, as emergency personnel stood by with stretchers awaiting any potential victims.
Amtrak is investigating the cause of the fire.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause,” the agency’s latest announcement said, pledging to provide updates as new information becomes available.
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