A female gray seal with a broken back gazes out from a small pool at the stranding center. Sometimes, the center takes in newborn seals that crawled onto highways. (Akira Suwa/Inquirer)
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, the only organization in New Jersey authorized by the state to rescue distressed marine mammals, may close in three years if local officials decide there is a more valuable use for the waterfront property it leases from the city, the Inquirer's Jacqueline L. Urgo reports. The venerable marine veterinary-care center opened 22 years ago on land leased from the city for $1 a year. That property, which runs along a back-bay tributary known as the Bonita Tideway, is now worth $3 million to $5 million, the City of Brigantine estimates. The city figures it can get more than a dollar a year when the center's lease expires in 2010.
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