A partially blind seal believed to be from the North East Coast of North America was found on a beach on Friday, the first such creature to be seen in the wild in Bermuda in about four years.

The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo was notified of the seal late on Friday afternoon but were unable to capture it because of the early sunset.

Dr. Ian Walker, Acting Principle Curator and Veterinarian of BAMZ, explained the seal was found at Admiralty Cove Bach in Pembroke.

Early on Saturday morning a crew was assembled at the beach to rescue the animal but it did not go as planned.

"I checked first thing the next morning and he was lying on the beach. At that point he was alert, reactive on the beach, lying there but fairly quiet. We could approach him."

Dr. Walker continued: "The seal was scared off the beach by dogs when we were getting the team together. He swam out of the cove."

Dr. Walker went down to the beach again first thing on Sunday morning, but the seal had left.

However, when he arrived at home, he received a call from Jonathan Nesbitt, Government's veterinarian, who said the seal had been spotted by a couple of fishermen near East Broadway. He was directly opposite Hamma Galleries, lying on a small beach.

Dr. Walker said: "We had our team in place because of the day before and had a net boat waiting to go down to aquarium. All was going nice until the engine on the boat failed".

He explained the fisherman who called in the sighting had a 75ft net and offered it to the crew. However, Dr. Walker initially declined because BAMZ's net was longer but in the end they took up the fishermen's offer.

"We got the net down on the shore. Dolphin Quest sent staff as volunteers and one swam across the bay with rope and slowly pulled the net across the bay.

"We got the net around the seal, he was fairly quiet and wasn't that alert. We noticed he was blind in his right eye the day before because it was definitely abnormal looking", he added.

Dr. Walker said the group got the seal into the seal crate, carried it up the steps into the back of a truck and took it to the aquarium.

He said the seal is a bit lighter than the female seals at BAMZ and is about 5ft in length. The seal is currently in a backup tank in quarantine. He has been given antibiotics and fluids and a blood test were taken.

Asked what will happen to the seal, Dr. Walker said it's too early to tell, but said: "They have probably a 90 percent chance of not surviving. But having said that, he looks in better condition that a lot of seals I have seen. He may have some hidden energy."

The veterinarian said there is nothing in Bermuda waters for the seal to eat so he was dehydrated.

He added the seal probably came from the north east coast as the winds have been strong from that direction.

Dr. Walker thanked everyone who helped capture the seal including the fishermen, staff at BAMZ and the volunteers from Dolphin Quest.