Shirley Bassey was rescued on 28th January 2013 Gender : Female Location of pup´s Rescue : Porthmeor Beach - St Ives Age at Rescue : 12 weeks Reason for Rescue : malnourished and wounds. Update - 1st May 2013 : Photo above of Shirley was taken on 27th April 2013 in the convalescence pool.   Click here to see further photos. Her flipper tag number is 133 (red). Update - 18th May 2013 : Shirley was released back into the wild on 16th May 2013 along with Slash, Tina, Biffy, Queen and Bob Marley. Update - 9th June 2013 : It has only been 2½ weeks since Shirley was released back into the wild but she was spotted by Sarah Beadle at a local haul-out along the north coast of Cornwall on 31st May 2013. Sarah was doing a seal survey on behalf of the Seal Research Trust (SRT) and noticed that this juvenile seal (right) had scarring and a red rear flipper tag. Sarah sent a photo of the seal when she got home to Sue Sayer of the SRT, who recognised the markings as Shirley, a pup released just a few weeks ago. Update - 18th November 2020 : Shirley was seen in the wild on 19th February 2020, 15th, 16th & 19th April 2020, 12th & 13th May 2020 and 10th November 2020 along the coast of Cornwall. By monitoring the behaviour of seals after release back into the wild, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, Seal Research Trust and other organisations 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 organisations to 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.

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