The Cornish Seal Sanctuary received a telephone call from Penny, a concerned member of the public, asking to help a young seal pup on the beach at Church Cove in Gunwalloe. Bethan, part of the Animal Care Specialist Team and regular volunteer Tabitha, were dispatched to check on the pup.
Penny Chambers with her dogs Pearl and Fern said "As we dropped down the path beside Mullion Golf Course, one of my regular mornings walks, the dogs ran ahead as usual to get to the sea, but as I rounded the bend, I could see them standing back staring at something on the beach, I called them back, putting them on their leads and went to investigate."
Penny continues "The seal pup didn´t appear injured but struggling, maybe to get to the water, not being sure what to do I googled "what do you do if you find a seal" and then walked towards Dollar Cove to get a clearer phone signal to call the Gweek Seal Sanctuary.
Following their guidance as I walked back onto the beach I met up with local dog walker, Pete, who joined me to protect the pup. I took some photos as asked and climbed back up the bank sending them to the Sanctuary. Pete also contacted his friends, Elizabeth and Flo, (Seal Research Trust volunteers) who backed up the advice to keep our distance, secure the area, keeping inquisitive dogs away while they headed over from Redruth. We kept informing and guiding other walkers away from the pup until the Seal Sanctuary team arrived around 10:30am and took over the rescue."
Upon arrival Bethan and Tabitha found a small seal pup quiet and resting on the beach. After monitoring the pup from a distance for a while, a decision was made by Bethan to carry out a full assessment and found the seal had some wounds to his body, underweight, malnourished with a snotty nose and not being in the best location.
As Church Cove beach was busy with dog walkers (some dogs off the lead), a decision was made to uplift and transport the seal pup to the Cornish Seal Sanctuary where the animal care team could start his rehabilitation.
This 12+ weeks old male grey seal pup has been named Doughnut. He will spend a few days in the isolation area of the hospital for lots of rest and treatment.
Update - 25th February 2026 : Doughnut is currently in the main area of the hospital and eating fish for himself, slowly gaining weight and building up strength for his graduation to the outside nursery pools to continue his rehabilitation process.
Update - 9th March 2026 : Doughnut was moved down to the outside nursery pools for his next stage of rehabilitation. This means he is on the road to recovery and also has a deeper pool to swim in. These photos and video below were taken on the 9th of March 2026 in nursery pool number 4.
Pups in the nursery pools will be learning how to behave in the wild, interacting with other seals and also competing for their fish, which are all vital skills they will need when they are released back out into the wild.
His flipper tag ID number SL382 (yellow).
Update - 21st March 2026 : Yum Yum splashes Doughnut!
Update - 1st April 2026 : Doughnut is now in the rehabilitation pool with 2 other rescued seal pups, Gravy and Yum Yum, these photos below were taken on 1st of April 2026.
The pups in the rehabilitation pool are now healed of any wounds, recovered from any illnesses and are now at the perfect weight to be ready to thrive in the wild.
Update : Doughnut along with Yum Yum have now fully recovered and are at the perfect weight of 30+kg, ready to thrive back in the wild! They were released back into the wild 27th of April 2026.
