Two seals washed up on shore in the Rockaways, and one marine expert suspects curious spectators likely contributed to one of the animals' deaths. NY1's Gene Apodaca reports.

It was a Facebook post that caught Kristen Neville's eye.

"There was a posting that said, 'Come down and see this beautiful little guy down here,'" Neville said. "Got the kids dressed and came down, and it was not what we were hoping to see."

When they got to the beach, Neville says, the seal appeared to be near death.  

As hard as it was to see it struggle, even more troubling, Neville says, is what beachgoers were doing to the animal: splashing water on it and trying to get it back into the ocean.

"The cops and the Parks Department said, 'Stand back and keep away,' but really, people were getting way to close, taking pictures with it, kind of, I guess, putting into stress," Neville said.

The gray seal pup was one of two that washed up near Beach 105th Street in Seaside last week.

The Riverhead Foundation, a marine rescue and rehab organization, eventually arrived to help the struggling seals, but in both cases, it was too late. 

The foundation's president, Charles Bowman, says lab tests haven’t been completed to pinpoint why the seals died. But he said the scene described by Neville, people gathering around one of the seals and touching it, contributed to that pup's death.

"Even if they had a mild infection or mild injury, small injury, the stress itself can lead to some very bad consequences," Bowman said.

Experts say seal sightings are not uncommon in this part of the city. What is rare is having two beached and die within a week.  

The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, which will perform necropsies on the animals, says there could be a multitude of reasons the seals died. 

"Does it have any signs of disease? Is it an animal that’s big, healthy and robust, or an animal that happens to be skinny and emaciated?" said Robert DiGiovanni, founder of the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society.

The Riverhead Foundation says if you see a sick seal, keep at least 150 feet away. Seals are frightened of people and crowding them will just add more stress. It’s best to call police, who can alert people trained to help sick animals.  

To learn more, head to riverheadfoundation.org.