Animal Rescue

National Aquarium Animal Rescue is federally permitted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to respond to sick and injured sea turtles and marine mammals along Maryland's 3,190 miles of coastline. We also partner with other institutions to rehabilitate animals that strand up and down the East Coast, and work with the Greater Atlantic Region Stranding Network year-round to assist with animal rescue operations, transports, monitoring, rehabilitation, releases and more.

Since 1991, we have returned hundreds of rehabilitated animals to their natural habitats—including harbor, grey, harp and hooded seals; Kemp's ridley, green and loggerhead sea turtles; and a harbor porpoise, pygmy sperm whale and manatee.

Stranding Response Center

Animal Rescue operates out of three locations: the main Aquarium, the Animal Care and Rescue Center and, since 2023, the National Aquarium Animal Rescue Stranding Response Center in Ocean City, Maryland. The Stranding Response Center is a 400-square-foot facility equipped to triage and stabilize seals and sea turtles prior to arranging transport to Baltimore and planning for long-term care as needed. Minimizing the time between an animal's retrieval and beginning necessary treatment can often prove lifesaving; the Stranding Response Center's proximity to the coast facilitates faster assessment and care for animals during this critical time.

Ocean City Animal Rescue staff and volunteers have several duties at and around the center. Aside from keeping the triage facility ready for seals or sea turtles that could be brought in at any moment, staff oversee the training of volunteers so they can assist with handling and restraining rescued animals. Crews also regularly respond to reports of stranded marine animal sightings. Calls regarding healthy animals are also valuable data for the team. Not only do these sightings provide the team with data about the local populations, but they can also send a volunteer to monitor the animal from a distance, keep the public a safe distance away and inform beachgoers about these creatures. Those interested in helping the Animal Rescue team in Ocean City, Maryland, can explore our volunteer opportunities.

Reporting Sightings

If you're in Maryland and see a seal or sea turtle, please report it to the National Aquarium's Animal Stranding Hotline at 410-576-3880. Outside Maryland, please report a stranded or injured marine animal to the appropriate U.S. organization, notify the appropriate Canadian organization of a marine mammal or sea turtle incident or sighting, or contact the Mexico Marine Wildlife Rescue Center.

Seal Rehab

Every winter and spring, seals strand along the mid-Atlantic coastline of the United States. Seals are semi-aquatic animals, which means they come ashore regularly. They may come on land for a few reasons: to rest, regulate their body temperature, mate, give birth or nurse. A seal may also come ashore if it is sick or injured. When a seal is sighted on a Maryland beach, National Aquarium Animal Rescue works with volunteers and local partners to respond. If the seal is injured or ill, it may require short-term triage or long-term rehabilitation.

As the only long-term seal rehabilitation provider south of New Jersey, we also treat seals rescued from other parts of the mid-Atlantic and the southeast regions. All National Aquarium stranding response and seal rehabilitation activities are conducted under NOAA permit 18786-04.

The seal rescue season ebbs and flows each year, especially around pupping months and shortly after. Our team primarily cares for juvenile grey, harbor and harp seals. Grey and harbor seals are more common in the region, but their prevalence has shifted in recent decades as grey seals have pushed harbor seals out of their traditional range. With a newly established grey seal rookery in Delaware, the Animal Rescue team routinely treats more injured and sick grey seals than harbor seals.

Rescue operations and caring for these animals is very demanding work, and the team relies on help from numerous volunteers each year. There are many opportunities for those interested in volunteering with the Animal Rescue team. However, given the seasonal nature of seal strandings, Animal Rescue volunteer applications for positions both in Baltimore and Ocean City, Maryland, are not open year-round.

Sea Turtle Rehab

Each summer, juvenile sea turtles including loggerheads, greens, leatherbacks and Kemp's ridleys are drawn to the warm, shallow waters of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to forage for food.

Sea turtles are cold-blooded reptiles; if they don't migrate south before water temperatures drop in the fall, they can become lethargic or even comatose. Cold stunning is essentially hypothermia, or low body temperature, for sea turtles. It causes chronic illnesses and complications such as pneumonia, lesions and parasites. Depending on a turtle's condition and its severity, recovery may take weeks to months.

Here in the Aquarium's Pier 4 building, a host of staff and volunteers provide them, and other locally stranded sick and injured sea turtles, with long-term care. Once the sea turtles have recovered, the team organizes their return to sea, transporting the animals to beaches along the mid-Atlantic and southeast coast.

Given the potential for longer-term rehabilitation, caring for rescued sea turtles can be a demanding but very fulfilling process. We have several opportunities for those interested in volunteering with the Animal Rescue team.