Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe FORT PIERCE, Fla., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Two young hooded seals who wandered from the Arctic to South Florida were rescued from beaches where they were found near death from dehydration. Sandy the Seal was found Saturday on Hobe Sound Beach, the Palm Beach Post reported. Patches turned up Sunday in the surf 2 miles north of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. Advertisement Both seals are females, about 6 months old and members of a species usually found in the far north. "They're like little extraterrestrials, really," said Gregory Bossart, director of marine mammal research and conservation at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. The two seals were taken to Harbor Branch, near Fort Pierce. They are to be flown to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, N.J., for rehab and then released in Maine. Scientists say that arctic seals have been straying farther south in greater numbers. They are unsure why -- whether seals are simply more numerous or there is something more sinister going on like food supply problems.
