After wandering around Polpis Road in Nantucket and letting out some cries, a nearly three-week-old gray seal pup was rescued and released to a secluded alcove on Quidnet Beach.
“After a bit of bushwhacking, we safely crated the healthy youngster and transported him to a safe spot in Quidnet where he can rest in full view of the sea and head out when he’s rested and ready,” wrote the Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket, via a Facebook post.
The organization received a call at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday about the seal pup, which was old enough to be on its own, waddling on a road near Sesachacha Pond, the post said.
A caller watched over the seal until a three-person rescue team arrived, said Pam Murphy, the organization’s board president and responder.
The seal went down a hill near the road and into the scrub oak, Murphy said. The animal was “crying out” as Murphy and another rescuer put a towel over it and carried it back up the hill to put into an airline crate.
“He was a feisty booger,” Murphy said. “He definitely gave me some trouble because he was really wiggly.”
Murphy said there were “no obvious injuries,” and the animal, which was placed in “a nice secluded spot near a snow fence,” had gone back into the water by Friday.
Seal pup rescues are common this time of year, Murphy said, with the rescue center receiving four calls on Thursday. But the rescue on Polpis Road was “a hell of a long way” from the ocean, further than usual, Murphy said.
It’s “pupping season” which is from about November to January when seals are being born and after three weeks, they’re solo, Murphy said. Once alone, they might look around for their mother or “get disoriented.”
Murphy said the recent weather could be another factor.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if some of this frenzy of little pups booking it away from the ocean is because of these stormy seas we’ve been having,” she said.
Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com. Follow her @Ava_Berger_.