A baby seal was discovered traveling alone along a highway in Massachusetts, on Dec. 29. It made stops in a woman’s driveway, and then in the parking lot of a pizza shop.
“I think he was looking for anchovy pizza. That’s what we’re guessing,” said the Yarmouth Police Department’s Deputy Chief Steven Xiarhos to WHDH.
The Yarmouth woman called police at about 8:40 p.m. after she saw the seal in the driveway of her home near a highway, according to Hyannis News.
The baby seal was about two miles from the nearest beach, according to WHDH. Police caught it into a cardboard box before the neighbor and a local animal expert Bethany Jakubson helped transfer the animal into a plastic kennel, all in the parking lot of the pizza shop.
Jakubson told WHDH she believes the seal is a weaned pup that was on its own after recently leaving the care of its mother.
Xiarhos described the police department’s initial disbelief to WHDH.
“When it went over the radio, they thought that the dispatcher had made a mistake, and they questioned it, and then when they got there, there he was.”
Wildlife officials later arrived to examine the seal and transport it for release at sea.
Local police named the pup after a local hero, Navy SEAL Kevin Houston. Houston was killed in Afghanistan in 2011 when a helicopter carrying him and others was shot down, Time reported. The Taliban claimed responsibility, according to History.
Xiarhos told WHDH the way the seal managed to come onto shore and travel safely along the highway before being discovered reflects the kind of top secret maritime military action that Kevin Houston engaged in as a member of Navy SEAL Team Six.
“We believe little Houston travelled from the ocean up a nearby frozen creek and made his surprise appearance Navy Seal style! Thank you for visiting us and stay warm and safe out there buddy!” wrote the Yarmouth Police Dept. in a Facebook post.
