SANDWICH, MA- The seal who came to dinner

SANDWICH, MA - Like a chocoholic with keys to a Godiva shop, a young harbor seal found herself in sea mammal heaven yesterday - the Sandwich Hatchery.

And before she was captured and released on a salt water beach, the little seal managed to munch on untold numbers of four-pound trout.

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No one is quite sure exactly why the seal ended up at the state fish hatchery. She had to travel about two miles from the area of the Sandwich Boardwalk on Cape Cod Bay, follow a creek that passes under a mini-golf course and Route 6A and runs through a wooded area skirting the fish hatchery, before somehow making her way into the hatchery lagoons.

And with several lagoons to choose from, the little seal ended up in the one with the largest trout, most weighing four pounds or so.

Hatchery employees found some tracks indicating the seal might have traversed a snowy area of about 25 yards to reach the fish-filled lagoons.

"Its either a very smart little seal or a very lucky little seal," said Katie Touhey, a spokeswoman for the Cape Cod Stranding Network, a program of the International Wildlife Fund.

"It looks healthy enough, pretty full in fact," said Touhey peering into the lagoon where the seal swam back and forth, alternately barking at curious on-lookers who ventured too close and sending trout into a leaping frenzy.

The seal was discovered around 7 a.m. as Division of Fisheries and Wildlife employees made their regular morning rounds at the historic hatchery. First built as a private trout farm in 1860, it was purchased by the state in 1912, according to hatchery manager Craig Lodowsky.

Wildlife technician John Garofoli was first to spot the seal and did a double take.

Cape Cod Times

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[Classic67]

I love how he looked back at the person holding him, like he was saying, "Thanks for the grub."

[ursojealous11]

It's so cute!! So funny!