Our Case Stories

Though patient #81 was also no longer with her mom when we responded to her case, her story is a bit different. She was reported to our hotline on June 6, 2021, in Harpswell, Maine. Based on her behavior, teeth, and nutritional condition, it was evident that she had been weaned and was completely independent…Continue Reading

#37 is another April 2021 pup, reported to our hotline on Westport Island. We responded to find him with a full lanugo coat and an umbilicus, sleeping in the water. Though his location limited our ability to examine him, we were amazed to watch this hours-old pup expertly swimming and resting in the cold, rough…Continue Reading

On April 30, 2021, a caring and concerned beach walker found pup #36 sleeping alone on seaweed and was worried he’d been abandoned. Thanks to the report, our team arrived on site shortly after receiving the call. He was nutritionally robust and didn’t appear to have any wounds. Overall, he appeared healthy and strong, with…Continue Reading

Our stranding network partners at Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic responded to and rescued COA on April 29, 2021. After their team determined she had been abandoned and would not survive without intervention, they collected and transported her to MMoME’s center. Her admit exam revealed that she, too, had lanugo fur, was…Continue Reading

We arrived at Underwood Cove in Falmouth, Maine, on April 11, 2021 to find a small harbor seal pup covered in white fluffy fur (lanugo) with her umbilicus still attached. Already showing signs of a deficiency of nutrition from her mother, our team collected her for care.  Because most harbor seals lose their lanugo in…Continue Reading

                      On August 12, 2018, MMoME received a report of a small seal that looked to be struggling in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. A volunteer was dispatched, and found a weanling harbor seal. She seemed to be a healthy weight, but was lethargic and had…Continue Reading

On November 15th, 2014, MMoME received a report from a concerned citizen of a dolphin on Short Sands Beach in York, ME. Live-stranded cetaceans (a porpoise, dolphin or whale) are a much more serious event compared to live-stranded pinnipeds (seals). Unlike seals, cetaceans cannot live out of water, even temporarily, and when they end up…Continue Reading

During the winter of 2017, a small seal was reported to MMoME’s hotline just before dark in front of a busy restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine. Photos showed a juvenile hooded seal! A less common species reported to MMoME, this arctic species made the normal migration down to coastal Maine for the winter. MMoME staff immediately…Continue Reading

In early 2017, a juvenile harp seal stranded in a marsh in Brunswick, Maine. After being reported to our hotline, a trained volunteer was dispatched to examine him. Harp seals are an arctic species that migrate down to the Maine coast in the winter, and head back north each summer. His assessment yielded a borderline…Continue Reading

In September of 2016, a local whale watch vessel reported a deceased North Atlantic right whale floating off of Boothbay Harbor, ME. This species is critically endangered, with less than 500 remaining; the loss of any individual is detrimental to the population. Though sad, the importance of learning everything possible from a deceased right whale…Continue Reading