Seal Moving From Woods Hole Aquarium

Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries

FALMOUTH – A beloved harbor seal who has lived at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium for three years is moving to the Midwest.

“Bubba” was born April 30th, 2000 at SeaWorld in Orlando. He spent over two decades at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island until the zoo transitioned away from holding harbor seals.

According to NOAA Fisheries, the Science Aquarium had a seal habitat that had been empty since 2017. Since Bubba had never lived in the wild, he could not be released, so the Science Aquarium welcomed him in 2022.

But the Aquarium is planning to close for major repairs this fall, so Bubba is being relocated to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo in Indiana where he will be able to make new seal friends. Bubba’s mate in Woods Hole, a young female seal named “Kitt”, sadly died in 2023. 

The Woods Hole Science Aquarium was established in 1875 and is the country’s oldest marine aquarium. The coronavirus pandemic caused it to be closed from 2020 to 2022.