By AARON GOUVEIA
and K.C. MYERS
STAFF WRITERS
BUZZARDS BAY - The National Marine Life Center is well known for its sea turtles, but now seals can be added to the list.

The center has its first seal patient, a yearling, 3-foot, 60-pound male harp seal rescued in Harwich by the Cape Cod Stranding Network and taken to the center on March 13.

A harp seal is being rehabilitated at the National Marine Life Center in Buzzards Bay after being rescued in Harwich last month. It was suffering from dehydration. (Steve Heaslip/Cape Cod Times)

The seal, not yet named, is suffering from dehydration and patches of fur loss, said Kathy Zagzebski, executive director of the facility.

Although the seal's future was uncertain when he was rescued, he is doing much better and Zagzebski's hope is to eventually return him to the ocean.

Since it began accepting ''patients” in 2004, the life center has rehabilitated a total of 17 turtles, Zagzebski said, plus this seal.

With a $600,000 operating budget, the center provides veterinary care, diagnostic tests and contributes to the research about marine life, Zagzebski said.

''The Marine Life Center is the missing link for us,” said Katie Touhey, executive director and senior scientist of the Cape Cod Standing Network, which rescues turtles and marine mammals from Cape beaches.

Once plucked off the beaches, turtles, whales and seals usually go to the New England Aquarium in Boston for immediate care. Once they begin to recover, however, they need space to swim.

That's when the life center comes in handy.

In the past, the New England Aquarium has had to fly cold-stunned turtles to Texas, Florida, and elsewhere for full rehabilitation, said Connie Merigo, director of rescue and rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium.

The Life Center's long-term goal is to raise $8 million to build a full-service hospital for marine life, Zagzebski said.

A $2 million donation last year by Townsend Hornor ''put us on the doorstep of being able to build our hospital,” said Richard Largay, chairman of the center's board of trustees.

Located in an old warehouse in Buzzards Bay, the center now has nine turtles and one seal under care.

In the short term, the center will add pipes to pump water from the sea into the tanks, she said. This should be a big improvement from the current situation, in which a volunteer uses his pumper truck to fill the 8,000-gallon tanks with sea water each week, Zagzebski said.

When the seal is in better health and moving toward a release date, Zagzebski said the center may hold a naming contest.

Aaron Gouveia can be reached at agouveia@capecodonline.com.

(Published: April 6, 2007)

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