CHARLESTOWN, R.I. (AP) – A young seal that has been receiving medical treatment after being found dehydrated and with a bellyful of sand this summer was returned to the wild Tuesday.

The female hooded seal was first spotted Aug. 13 off Green Hill Beach in South Kingstown. It then swam into the Charlestown Breachway and entered Charlestown Pond.

“The seal seemed pretty lethargic,” said Cindy Davis, of the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Program of Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration, in Mystic, Conn., who rescued the animal.

At the aquarium, the seal developed brain swelling and pneumonia. Its condition slowly improved with antibiotics and assisted feedings, and it’s now gained 23 pounds, Davis said.

“She’s much more alert, aggressive and feisty,” she said of the seal, which was successfully released Tuesday morning at a beach in Charlestown.

Hooded seals typically live in the northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean and come to waters off Rhode Island and Connecticut in winter.