A township snow plow driver was startled to find a seal wandering along Sixth Avenue in the Port Reading section of the township early this morning. The adult harp seal was discovered about 5 a.m., and police and a township control officer were notified. Officials then reportedly dragged the animal into the Woodbridge River, according to Robert Schoelkopf, founding director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

Several attempts to put a net around the seal failed. Town employees workers eventually grabbed the animal with a mouthpiece normally used to capture dogs, Schoelkopf said. Schoelkopf said he was told Woodbridge employees dragged the seal into the Woodbridge River, which could have badly injured animal and left it in an unfamiliar waterway, uncertain which way to go.

"They were fearful for the animal's safety," Schoelkopf said. Schoelkopf said he hoped the seal would swim out to Arthur Kill, but if it went upstream, the seal would be in narrower water, probably without food. It could wander on land again, Schoelkopf said, and he hoped people would call his center.

Seals are arctic mammals that live on ice flows, Schoelkopf said. In cold weather, many are carried by currents and swim south looking for food, Schoelkopf said. Seals that travel 1,500 miles to the New Jersey coast often come onto beaches to escape the cold water, Schoelkopf said. His center has been called to rescue many seals in the last few weeks.