Shoebert is back! Sort of.
One Twitter user likened the seal's return to the North Shore to the plot of a Disney movie.
Celebrity seal Shoebert, who captured hearts after spending some time in Beverly’s Shoe Pond last month, is back on the North Shore.
The gray seal turned himself in to Beverly police after about a week in the pond and was released last week off of Rhode Island with a satellite tag fixed to his back.
After a brief stint on Cape Cod, Shoebert once again headed north and was last tracked swimming around the North Shore, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday.
“Gray seals are often in this area during this time of year, so his presence isn’t unusual,” NOAA said. “We don’t really know how seals navigate, but we do know that they are very good at finding their way while traveling at sea, in all types of weather conditions, day and night, while spending much of their time underwater.”
Sarah Callan, assistant animal rescue manager at the Mystic Aquarium — where Shoebert underwent observation and a medical assessment — told The Boston Globe the seal was tracked to the entrance of the Danvers River on Wednesday.
“We’re not overly surprised,” she told the newspaper. “He seems to be staying closer to the shoreline, unlike other seals that might be further out [in the ocean]. But if he’s not getting food, he’ll be moving on north.”
She added: “Beverly residents might be upset to hear that.”
Already, Shoebert’s return has sparked an outpouring of online affection from residents on the North Shore and beyond.
“He left his ❤️ in Beverly! I feel ya Shoebert,” Waltham City Councillor At Large Colleen Bradley-MacArthur wrote on Twitter.