A seal was spotted last weekend in the Lek near Nieuwegein, about 85 kilometers from the North Sea. “That is not the place where you expect a seal,” animal caretaker Jarco Havermans of Ecomare shelters told NU.nl. Moreover, in the Netherlands it only happens a few times a year that a seal turns up in fresh water.
By Lennart ‘t HartThe seal in the photo is for illustration purposes and not the seal in the Lek near Nieuwegein.
Passers-by spotted the seal on Saturday in the Lek in Vreeswijk. A Nieuwegeiner managed to film the animal when it came swimming towards the shore. She sent her video last weekend to the AD†
Havermans has seen the images and although the animal was filmed from afar, there is no doubt in his mind: this is unmistakably a seal. He just doesn’t dare to say whether it is a common or a gray seal. “That’s hard to see.”
According to the zookeeper, it may happen once, twice or three times a year that a seal appears in fresh water. A few years ago, a seal swam in the Lek, not far from Nieuwegein. In previous years, seals caused a stir in the canals of Amsterdam and Utrecht. And according to Havermans, a seal has been swimming in the inland waters of Den Helder for a number of years. “He even got a young one.”
According to Havermans, it shows that seals thrive in fresh water. The animal, which actually belongs in the sea, can also find food in our rivers. In principle, finding the way back to the sea should also not be a problem, as long as the seal is okay. Incidentally, Havermans cannot say on the basis of the images in what condition the seal spotted in the Lek is.
Seal presumably hitched a ride with migrating fish
To get this far upstream, the seal had to overcome a number of obstacles such as locks. There used to be – but we’re talking about a hundred years ago – a lot less, so seals swam in rivers much more often.
Havermans suspects that the seal near Nieuwegein has hitched a ride with migrating fish that use temporary openings in dams and locks to get into fresh water.
Furthermore, it is not surprising that the seal (as far as we know) is alone. “Seals are solitary animals. They often lie in large groups on the mudflats, but that is due to a lack of good lying areas. Otherwise they would be alone much more often. They also hunt alone, for example,” says the zookeeper.
It is unknown whether the seal is still swimming around Nieuwegein. There is a good chance that the animal has already left, “because they remain seals”. Otherwise, the animal should be fairly easy to spot, as it often has to surface to breathe.
