Lough Eske was rescued on 26th March 2024
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The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) hotline received a telephone call on the 26th of March 2024 from a member of the public about a young seal pup in the harbour at Mousehole.
The area coordinator arranged for local marine mammal medics to check on the seal. Billy, one of the medics, said "When he arrived, the seal had started making its way down towards the water, but Mousehole harbour had the wooden boards across the entrance.
There was a lot of work occurring with the Harbour Master removing sand with 2 JCB´s. The decision was made to herd the seal back up the beach to a quieter location to await uplift by additional medics. This proved tricky. A fisherman, Chris, got a tarp off his boat, which was an ideal bit of kit, as it was bite proof, and the medics herded the seal up into a corner, to await for Tash, Andy and Alison, who arrived about 45 minutes later". The seal was assessed and found to have a temperature of 36.7ºC, a weight of 21.2kg, with no visible fresh injuries but the pup did cough a lot before assessment. It was tube-hydrated by Andy on the beach at 12:40pm and placed into the cage while the team discussed the pup with the BDMLR Vet. It was decided to uplift to the BDMLR Cornwall Seal Hospital.
| | Photos Credit - Billy Nason (BDMLR)
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The pup had a light blue tag with number SRI-N-076, after checking they found that Lough Eske had already been rehabbed at Seal Rescue in Ireland for three months after being rescued as a whitecoat. Upon release on the 12th of January 2024 at Wexham, for some reason, she travelled to Cornwall, unfortunately losing a lot of weight. On uplift weighing only 21kg, she was also, understandably, extremely exhausted. Soon she was full of life and proved quite a challenge for the hospital medics!! They had a suspicion that she just thought they were large fish!!
This photo below was taken in the BDMLR´s hospital. - Photo Credit - Alison Davey (BDMLR)
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Update - 3rd April 2024 : The pup was transferred to the Sanctuary´s hospital at Gweek on the 2nd of April 2024, to continue her rehabilitation journey. The photos below of Lough Eske were taken on the 3rd of April 2024 in the Sanctuary´s hospital.
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Update - 21st April 2024 : Lough Eske spent a week or so in the hospital for some TLC before she was moved down to the nursery pools to put on some more weight before she is returned to the wild in the next month or so. These photos below were taken on the 19th of April 2024 in nursery pool 4.
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Update - 16th May 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 9th of May 2024 at Perranuthnoe beach in South Cornwall.
Lough Eske, along with Margot Robbie, Raven Symone and Emma Stone, 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.
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