Ariel was rescued on 18th October 2014 Ariel, 4-5 weeks old female grey seal pup, was rescued on 18th October 2014 from Cleave Strand near Crackington Haven beach by Katherine Smith and Charlie Pearson, members of the British Divers Marine Life (BMDLR) Rescue team. The pup was found to be extremely malnourished with sliced wounds all over her body. Upon arrival at the Sanctuary, the pup was put into one of isolation pens of the hospital and a full clinical assessment was carried out by members of the animal care team. The vet prescribed the pup with antibiotics as a precaution to fight any infections she may be harbouring. Ariel´s wounds were cleaned and weighed 15kgs. Credit: Photo above and left taken by Charlie Pearson. Click here to see a larger photos of Ariel being rescued. Update - 26th October 2014 : Ariel is responding well to treatment, hopefully will not be too long till she learns how to feed for herself. Ariel is still in the isolation pen of the hospital but will be moved out into the main area soon. Click here to see a larger version of this photo taken on 25th October 2014. Update - 28th November 2014 : Ariel is now in the outside nursery pool for her next stage of rehabilitation and she is doing well and starting to learn to self feed. Her flipper tag number is 039 (yellow). Update - 1st January 2015 : Ariel is in the convalescent pool and learning how to compete for fish with the other rescued seal pups and the resident seals. Photo left of Ariel was taken on 28th December 2014. Click here to see a larger version of this. Update - 25th January 2015 : Ariel was returned to the wild along with Anastacia, Bruce Wayne, Quick Silver, Superman and Wonder Woman on 22nd January 2015 at Gwithian. Click here to watch a video of the seal release by Pirate FM Radio. Update - 1st December 2015 : Ariel was spotted at a local seal colony along the west coast of Cornwall on 26th May 2015, 19th & 24th September 2015 and 23rd November 2015. Photo left was taken by Sue Sayer.  Click here to see a larger photo of this. By monitoring the behaviour of seals after released back into the wild, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, Seal Research Trust and other organisations can use this information to define the best practice standards and policies that they can share with the international rescue community. Each seal´s fur pattern is unique and enables the organisations to track them for life.   Seals face many challenges, yet we all depend on them to balance our marine ecosystem, which is essential to make the oxygen we breathe.   Seals are our globally rare wildlife tourist attraction, helping diversify coastal economic prosperity.

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