HANOI, Vietnam Maybe it escaped from captivity. Maybe it got lost in ocean currents that have been affected by El Nino. Whatever the case, the North Pole seal was a long way from home. The 15-kilogram (33-pound) seal was captured last Friday by a fisherman 70 nautical miles off Quang Ngai Province on Vietnam's central coast, the Labor newspaper reported Monday. An expert from the Oceanology Institute was quickly sent to the area and paid 3 million dong ($230) for the seal, which was transported to the institute the next day.

The newspaper quoted the scientist as saying that such seals sometimes get as far south at the Sea of Japan but never live in tropical areas. He said another North Pole seal was captured by fishermen in Nghe An Province in 1989, but it died on the way to the northern port city of Haiphong. (AP)