| 
| Cornish Seal Sanctuary
| | Issue 230
| March 2024
Back
|
Seal-abrate Easter with the Seals!
Join team at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary this Easter!
From Friday 29th March the Seal Sanctuary are open from 10am until 5pm every day (with last admission at 4pm)
There is so much going on onsite to keep little ones (and bigger ones) entertained, including a Golden Egg Hunt, Seal Pup Rescue Demos, Talks and feeds with the Animal Care team, Arts and Crafts and a super fun Spring Bingo Trail!
|
Plus...On Tuesday 2nd of April why not join the brilliant Smartie Lids On The Beach Team who´ll be making fab art creations from marine litter in the marquee.
Book your tickets online two days in advance to save 20% online, or pay on the door. For more details, please click on this link, this will take you to the Official website for the Cornish Seal Sanctuary.
|
Pup update : 21st March 2024 - The weather conditions in Cornwall were perfect to release some of the seal pups who had been staying at the Sanctuary for the past few months were released back into the wild on the 21st of March 2024 at Perranuthnoe beach in South Cornwall.
Alastair Mackenzie, Florence Pugh, Julia Roberts, Matilda, Muffy and Ricky Gervais were all at a good weight and fully recovered thanks to the care and expertise of the brilliant Animal Care Team. It is such an amazing feeling for the team to see them happily "galumphing" back home. Good luck little ones.
|
Lough Rea, a 5-6 months old grey female seal pup, was rescued on 11th March 2024 from Wherrytown in Penzance. She was originally rescued by Seal Rescue Ireland as a whitecoat in Kerry at the end of October 2023 weighing 17.2kg and named Lough Rea. She was released on the 26th of January 2024 weighing 34.4kg from Courtown! She currently weighs just under 20kg on the day of rescue.
Apart from a few fairly minor wounds, the pup seemed ok. The only obvious issue were her substantial weight loss and that she was quite quiet with poor flipper strength, although body condition-wise, not too bad. The weight loss could possibly be due to her mammoth swim or something else, the pup was taken to the Sanctuary to find out more and continue the substantial rehabilitation that the pup had already received in Ireland. Click here to read more. This photo below was taken on 15th of March 2024 in the hospital.
|
Raven Symone, a 4-6 months old female grey seal pup, was rescued from Falmouth Docks on the 12th of March 2024 by the BDMLR medics. The pup was found at the top of the one of the slips on the Queen Elizabeth Wharves.
She had a high breathing rate of 60/2, temperature of 36.6°C, coughing/sneezing. There was blood around her mouth and small wounds on the mouth and chest. A decision was made to uplift the pup and relay her to the Seal Sanctuary.
The animal care team arranged for their local vet to give the pup a full assessment, taking a blood sample and providing a course of antibiotics to help with the respiratory infection. Click here to read more. These photos below of Raven were taken on the 15th of March 2024 in the hospital.
|
|
Arnold Schwarzenegger, a 4-6 months old male grey seal pup, was rescued from Constantine Bay on the 12th of March 2024 by the BDMLR medics. The pup was found with malnourished and underweight for his age with respiratory issues. These photos below of Arnold were taken on the 19th of March 2024 in the hospital. Click here to read more.
|
|
Pup update : 1st March 2024 - Florence Pugh and Ricky Gervais have been moved from the hospital down to the outside nursery pool number 3 today, this means they are on the road to recovery and mixing with each other, also has a deeper pool to swim in. Pups in the nursery pools will be learning how to behave in the wild, interacting with each other and also competing for their fish, which are all vital skills they will need when they are released back out into the wild.
Alastair Mackenzie, Muffy, Julia Roberts and Matilda are in the rehabilitation pool and will be released back into the wild shortly.
|
Some Exciting News...Coming Soon!
The Cornish Seal Sanctuary are super excited to announce that soon the team will be hearing the sound of pitter patter of 20 little webbed feet!!
Can you guess what´s coming?
|
The Seal Sanctuary are thrilled to share that their three beaver kits have successfully graduated from
the beaver nursery enclosure to a fantastic new four-acre habitat.
With the help of the specialist site teams, a lot of perseverance (and a huge net) all three beavers
have been safely moved to their new home.
|
|
The new four-acre habitat is full of all the natural resources that the beavers need, including several
variations of tree species and a stream that runs through the area, adjoining the Helford River. This
environment will naturally encourage the kits named Aspen, Sorrell and Buttercup, to start building
new dams, beaver ponds and felling trees. Read more.
|
|
In the last month Ray required several procedures for a historical condition and although he was making slow improvements, unfortunately, he did not recover as well as we had hoped. Despite huge efforts from the team and the veterinary support sadly it wasn´t enough, and he passed away during the evening of Sunday 17th of March 2024. Click here to go to Ray´s Page.
|
| International Women´s Day
|
This International Women´s Day (8th March) the team catch up with our amazing Head of Sanctuaries, Jana.
Hi Jana, tell us a bit about yourself and your current role.
My name is Jana, I am the Head of Sanctuaries for SEA LIFE TRUST, managing two of the charity´s sanctuaries, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary and the Beluga Whale Sanctuary. I oversee the day to day running of the sanctuaries, splitting my time between Cornwall and Iceland! Click here to read more.
|
Each released seal pup is given a flipper tag with an unique ID number. This helps the Cornish Seal Sanctuary and the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust (CSGRT) to track and monitor where pups end up and how they are doing once they are back in the wild.
This month the following seals were spotted in the wild by members of the CSGRT from around the coast of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly:-
|
Mayonnaise on 1st March 2024
Kipper and Nemo on 3rd March 2024
Turtle on 3rd, 4th and 13th March 2024
Frodo Baggins on 3rd and 6th March 2024
Basil on 3rd, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 18th, 20th and 23rd March 2024
Rocket Dog on 5th March 2024
Shirley on 1st, 5th, 9th, 10th and 18th March 2024
Tony Jalapeño on 1st and 6th March 2024
Pippin on 6th, 10th and 20th March 2024
Horseradish on 8th March 2024
Saffron on 8th, 23rd and 26th March 2024
Wham on 10th March 2024
Elvis and
Beast on 10th and 21st March 2024
Snowdrop on 11th March 2024
Star Anise on 11th and 21st March 2024
Orion on 13th, 14th, 20th, 21st and 25th March 2024
Prudie on 14th and 24th March 2024
Poppadom and Ginger on 14th March 2024
Jim Carrey on 20th March 2024
© Photos Credit : Pippin (left) and Tony Jalapeño (right) - Rob Wells - CSGRT - 6th March 2024
|
The information regarding tagged seals seen in the wild is copyright of the CSGRT.
By monitoring the behaviour of seals after release back into the wild, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary and the CSGRT 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 CSGRT volunteers 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.
|
| Click here to find out what to do if you find a Seal Pup or a Seal?
|
| That Special Mother´s Day Gift!
|
Show mum that she´s Seal-iously the best this Mother´s Day!
Shop at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary Mother´s Day collection online and in-store now???
|
|
This news update has been put together by volunteers/supporters of the Cornish Seal Sanctuary.
|
|
