WESTBROOK (AP) – A harbor seal that was rescued and rehabilitated over the summer departed Thursday for New York City, where he’ll reside at the Central Park Zoo.

The seal, who could not be transferred to the wild because of vision problems, was loaded into a kennel and placed in a truck Thursday morning; he’ll spend 30 days in quarantine before being introduced to the public in New York City.

The seal was rescued in May from the Fore River in Portland and taken to the Marine Animal Lifeline, New England’s largest seal rescue and rehabilitation organization.

Last year, the organization handled 805 reports of stranded, injured or dead seals. In July, it came close to turning away seals when it reached its capacity of 60, an all-time high.

During rehabilitation, the seals are taught to hunt fish in large tanks before they’re released into the wild. The seal that’s headed for New York City couldn’t hunt because of his vision problems, officials said.