It’s a sad day at the Seattle Aquarium, as nineteen-year-old northern fur seal Al was euthanized this morning. Al had a rather auspicious life, considering that after a disorienting ocean storm and a half-mile trip on land through forests, the months-old pup was discovered in a Hoquiam cow pasture in January 1993. Unable to take care of himself in the wild, he was transferred to the Seattle Aquarium and named after then newly-inaugurated Al Gore.

Nearly two decades later, Al had become “Big Al” and topped six hundred pounds (some would say the same about Al Gore), but he had also reached old age and declining health (ditto). It had become difficult for Al to eat and get around, so the staff and the Aquarium’s vet had to make the decision to put him down. It’s rare for a male fur seal in the wild to live past his mid-teens, so it seems like Al did pretty well for himself after all.

Al’s remains have been donated to the Burke Museum, as well as a researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Al is survived by his son, Isaac, eleven years old, currently on loan to the breeding program at Boston’s New England Aquarium, and his fellow Seattle Aquarium northern fur seals Woodstock and Commander.