Senior seal celebrates birthday at Aquarium of the Pacific

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Shelby the seal is now a senior citizen of Southern California’s Aquarium of the Pacific.

Dozens of children and adults wearing party hats sang “Happy Birthday” to Shelby. She turned 21 on Wednesday and was served a “cake” made of Jell-O and raw fish during a celebration at the aquarium in Long Beach.

Robert Mortensen, assistant curator for birds and mammals at the aquarium, says Shelby is one of the oldest animals at the aquarium. He says harbour seals in the wild typically live 15 to 20 years but that captive seals can make it to their 30s.

Shelby was born in captivity at a facility in Vallejo and in 1998 was sent to the Aquarium of the Pacific, where she lives in a seal and sea lion habitat.