Airport officials at the Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport in Utqiagvik, Alaska were in for a strange surprise on Monday when they spotted a seal lounging on their runway. Sure, some wild animals have been known to appear here from time to time. However, bearded seals are still very much considered a FOD. That is short for “Foreign Object Debris.”

No one knows how seal got on the runway

According to a report from KTVA, it seems the 450-pound Seal made its way to the airport around a time when airport staff was incredibly busy. A massive storm hit Utqiagvik that day and workers were hard at work clearing the runway after the storm.

It was during this clearing up that they spotted the seal.

According to Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) communications director Meadow Bailey, they had spotted other animals in the past. These include polar bears, musk ox, caribou, and birds. They are even used to animals peeking into their office. However, this is the first time a seal had visited them.

Airport officials warned pilots of 'low sealings'

To celebrate the moment and to inform pilots at the same time, ADOT sent out a message to them, saying that there were currently some “low sealings” at the airport.

Meanwhile, a Facebook user named Scott Babcock decided to take a photo and video of the lounging seal and post in on his social media page. According to a report from NPR, Bobcock is actually the airport’s foreman. So far, the photo has garnered 258 reactions and 457 shares. Meanwhile, the video has received as much as 144,034 views and 168 shares.

Seal safely removed eventually by animal control officials.

As fun as it may be to watch a seal hang out by the runway, it was soon time to ensure that it can be removed from the premises safely. Since ADOT staff members are not allowed to handle any marine mammals, they had to call in the North Slope animal control. Eventually, animal control managed to maneuver the seal onto a waiting sled.

They then pulled it off the airport runway using a snowmobile.

So far, there are no reports of the seal making its way back to the Airport Runway. However, Bailey was also quick to remind everyone that wildlife strikes can be a "significant safety hazard" to the aviation industry. In general, mammal strikes are said to be quite rare. In contrast, bird strikes are all too common, accounting for as much as 90 percent of all animal strikes in the US.
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