It all began when...
A large gray harbor seal, affectionately dubbed “Shoebert,” installed himself in Shoe Pond at Cummings Center research, medical, and office park in Beverly, MA. This instant media sensation spent more than a week on campus, the site of the former United Shoe Machinery Co., playing and preening for adoring crowds and bullishly evading all attempts to be guided back to the ocean. Just when authorities feared he'd staked a permanent claim to the Shoe, the wily seal shimmied onto land and over to Beverly Police headquarters, where he allowed local authorities to transport him to Mystic Aquarium for a checkup and safe reintroduction to the wild.
Videos
Shoebert in the news
- The Salem News, 9/16/22
- CBS Boston, 9/17/22
- NBC 10 Boston, 9/18/22
- WCVB Channel 5 (ABC), 9/21/22
- Boston 25 News, 9/23/22
- Miami Herald, 9/23/22
- People magazine, 9/23/22
- The Washington Times, 9/23/22
- Times Now (India), 9/24/22
- Yahoo News, 9/24/22
- New York Post, 9/24/22
- The Jerusalem Post, 9/25/22
- The Christian Science Monitor Daily, 9/26/22
- The Boston Globe, 10/5/2022
- NECN, 10/6/2022
- Boston 25 News, 10/12/2022
- WHDH 7 News Boston, 10/13/2022
- Boston Business Journal, 10/13/2022
- WBZ News Radio, 10/13/2022
- The Shoebert Saga, as Seen Through the Eyes of Joyce Cummings - blog post, 9/29/22
Photos
Courtesy of Ashley Stokes, Seacoast Science Center
Courtesy of Sarah Callan, Mystic Aquarium
Shoebert's path
In the wee hours of a warm Saturday morning, Shoebert emerged from Shoe Pond, traversed several hundred yards of the nearly deserted Cummings Center parking lot and loading docks, and presented himself at Beverly Police headquarters.
