Species : Common Seal
Rescued from : Heacham South Beach
Age : One day old
Gender : Male
Hunstanton SEA LIFE Sanctuary´s first male seal pup arrived in their hospital on 24th June 2013!
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Early that morning the staff received a phone call from Kerry and her husband who found this little guy while walking their dog on Heacham South Beach.
The Animal Care Team arrived at the scene and quickly found Kerry who was waiting with the seal pup.
He was only born last night and had a very fresh umbilicus still attached. He was very active and looking around for someone to take care of him when the team arrived!
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The team was very fast to rescue him and bring him back to the hospital for a check-over. He weighs a healthy 10 and a half kilograms, which is a very good weight for a newborn seal! Overall he looks like a very healthy pup and the team will work their hardest to feed him up and ensure he gets back to The Wash as quickly as possible! This pup has been named Batman.
The Animal Care Team would like to thank Kerry and her husband for notifying them and staying with the pup so that they could find him quickly!
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Update: 30th June 2013 - Batman has also put on half a kilo and is eating his fish well.
Thankfully this pup is bright, alert and hungry which is a great sign so the Animal Care Team are sure that with a lot of TLC, Batman and all the pups in the hospital will make a quick recovery and be able to rejoin their friends in the Wash by the end of the summer!
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Update: 18th July 2013 - Batman is by far the loudest pup in the seal hospital. He can be heard barking at the animal care team during feeds.
Despite developing an infection in his umbilicus in the first couple of days of arrival at the seal hospital, he has recovered quickly.
Click here to see a larger photo of Batman taken on
12th July 2013 in the hospital´s weaning pool.
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Update: 2nd August 2013 - Batman is still in the pup´s weaning pool.
Batman and his two friends, Wonderwoman, and Mystique, still like to be a little lazy and much prefer to get the Animal Care Team to do all the hard work, rather than feeding on their own. It won´t be long until they figure it out too though. Batman´s flipper tag number is 089 (red).
Click here to see a larger photo of Batman.
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Batman and all his friends in the weaning pool are very healthy and putting on lots of weight, each eating up to 3kgs of fish a day now!
They´re getting nice and fat, which means they will be able to move to the big outdoor pool with the resident seals as soon as they learn to pick up the fish from the water for themselves.
Click here to see a larger photo of this taken on
30th July 2013.
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Update: 31st August 2013 -
Batman is still learning to eat the fish underwater - he likes to chew his fish thoroughly but are still learning how to swallow them properly (and not sideways!).
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Update: 9th September 2013 - Batman is putting on lots of weight and is currently back in the hospital pen number 3 as he keeps removing the water outlet tubes from the weaning pool, naughty Batman!
Click here to see a collage of photos of Batman taken on 7th September 2013.
Batman´s flipper tag number 89 (red).
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Update: 30th October 2013 - Batman along with Spiderman, Wonderwoman, Mystique, Dangermouse and Robin were released back to the wild on 20th October 2013.
Click here to see a selection of photos taken by Sarah Parker.
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