Toledo Zoo says gray seal dies, helped US Navy

[December 18, 2010]  TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- The Toledo Zoo says a gray seal that performed tasks for the U.S. Navy in the 1970s has died.

The male seal named Neptune died earlier this week and was about 36 years old. The zoo says health problems related to aging, including a thyroid tumor, may have caused the death.

From 1975 to 1978, Neptune was one of many seals, sea lions and dolphins that assisted the Navy in tasks such as retrieving tools and equipment for divers, identifying mines and locating submarines.

The Navy donated Neptune to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut in 1978, and he was sent to the Toledo Zoo in 1999.

According to the National Zoological Park, male gray seals can live up to 30 years in the wild and into their 40s in zoos.

[Associated Press]

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