Ribbon seal that visited Everett turns up in Aberdeen

ABERDEEN — An Arctic ribbon seal that was spotted Thursday in Aberdeen is apparently the same one seen early this year in Seattle and Everett.

KBKW reports a police officer and animal control officer responded to a report of a seal in distress along the Wishkah River. They say the seal was OK, but the ribbon pattern may have made it appear as if the seal had a rope around its neck.

A marine mammal biologist with the state Fish and Wildlife Department, Dyanna Lambourn, says the ribbon seal appears to be the same one sighted in January at several locations on Puget Sound.

Researchers are unsure why it’s so far from its home waters off Alaska and Russia.