Waffle, a female grey seal pup, was rescued on the 22nd of September 2025 from a beach in St Ives Bay after 3 days of monitoring teamwork by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) marine mammal medic volunteers.
Alison, BDMLR volunteer medic, said "Three days of awesome monitoring teamwork came to an end. Rightly, we gave this seal pup every chance to stay wild and thrive without our intervention. However, today, day four, she was still in the same cave that she had been in all day on Sunday. No tracks to show she had left the cave at all. The RNLI had done a fantastic job of keeping her safe until George and I arrived. Visually, she looked extremely dehydrated with at least one infected wound on the back of her neck. With this information and photos, Jenny, asked for a full assessment. She had one large bloody and infected wound and several smaller bleeding wounds. Consequently, the pup was uplifted, after being given rehydration fluids, and taken to the Cornish Seal Sanctuary where she was immediately vet checked."
Alison continues "Thanks lots to all the many medics who have monitored her since Friday and to Lizzi, area coordinator, and Jenny at headquarter for managing and resolving this tricky situation."
This photo was taken of Waffle just after she arrived in the Sanctuary´s hospital.
Update : 28th September 2025 - Waffle is in good body condition but has several deep wounds to her neck and flippers which the animal care team specialists are keeping clean. One of the wounds on Waffle´s rear right flipper is infected and is being monitored closely. She is due for an xray soon on her flipper to see if she needs surgery. Whilst Waffle´s wounds are healing, she is being taught how to eat whole fish ready for the next stage of rehabilitation. Once Waffle´s wound have healed and she can have a swim in her hospital pool, but for now, she needs to rest as much as possible.
These photos below were taken on 25th of September 2025.
Update : 12th October 2025 - After an X-ray showed a broken digit on her back right flipper, Waffle went into surgery on the 6th of October 2025 to have it removed.
She did amazingly and is now recovering well in the hospital! Waffle is sporting a special green waterproof cream on her wound, so no swimming just yet, but she´s loving the hose, definitely a water baby! A huge thank you to @roseveanvets for taking such great care of her.
Update : 17th October 2025 - Waffle´s wound is healing well after her surgery last week at the Rosevean veterinary surgery. Once she gets the all clear from the vets, Waffle will be moved down to the outside nursery pools to continue her rehabilitation.
The photos below were taken on the 16th of October 2025.
Update : 7th November 2025 - Waffle was moved down to the outside pools for her next stage of rehabilitation. This means she is on the road to recovery and also has a deeper pool to swim in.
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.
Her flipper ID tag number is SL333 (yellow).
Update : 2nd December 2025 - This photo below of Waffle was taken on the 2nd of December 2025 in the rehabilitation pool.
Pup Update : On 23rd of December 2025 the Cornish Seal Sanctuary released their next 3 rescued seal pups, Waffle along with Meringue and Todd, of the 2025/26 rescue season were ready to go home for Christmas. Each rescued seal pup is weighed every week to find out who has reached the ideal target weight of 30+kg.
Waffle, Meringue and Todd were weighed and loaded into the back of the two vehicles from the rehabilitation pool and released back into the wild.
They confidently made their way into the surf and disappeared beneath the waves; a heart-warming moment that marks the successful end of their rehabilitation journey. We all wished them good luck and waved with tears in our eyes.
