Seal Pups

Seal Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release

We rescue over 70 injured Seal pups from local coastal waters each year and bring them to our Seal Hospital to undergo a rehabilitation programme. Grey Seal pup season is from September - March (although this year we released our last pup in late July and have had our first pup in early August!), this is when our hospital and nursery pools are the busiest!

During the rehabilitation process, the first place our rescued pups go to is our Seal Hospital. They will be put in our isolation pens, which allows the team to be able to closely monitor progress, give medication and also feed the pup. When they are feeling brighter, the pup will move to the main hospital pens, which has the facility to be filled with water when the pup is ready for swimming. 

Our guests are able to visit the hospital to see how our patients are doing and get a real behind the scenes experience of a working seal rescue hospital.

Once the pup is free from infection and a healthy weight, we then introduce them to the Nursery Pools, where they are often put in with another pup, which allows them to learn how to behave around other seals. After this, they are introduced into our main Seal Pool to learn how to interact with adult seals as they would in the wild, and how to fight for their fish - all the skills they need to know for when they get released.

When the animal care team are satisfied the pup is at a healthy weight and ready, the Sanctuary releases them back into the wild.

It costs over £2,000 to rehabilitate just one seal pup and get them fit for their release back into the wild, so we are extremely grateful our guests continue to support the work we do.

Meet this season's pups 

Meet Ant

Ant is a male grey seal pup rescued from Hayle on the 22nd November. He was only a few days old and had been separated from his Mum so he was very hungry.

Ant is doing really well with his rehabilitation, learning to swim and feed for himself with whole fish!

Meet Koweth

Koweth was rescued by the Cornish Seal Sanctuary on 22nd November from Gunwalloe Fishing Cove weighing just 13kg. He had injuries to his flippers and a swelling to his jaw, which was believed to have been caused by a damaged tooth, which was removed by our vets. 

Koweth is one of our sponsored pups, and he is doing so well with his rehabilitation, learning to self feed and practising his swimming skills!

Meet Monarch

Monarch is a male seal pup who was rescued by BDMLR on the 14th November in Port Issac. The melanistic pup was found to be malnourished with a swollen left flipper that the medics were concerned could be fractured. Monarch has since had an X-ray on his flipper and has started antibiotic treatment for an infection.

Only one in 400 seals are melanistic – meaning they are entirely black. The melanism is caused when too much of the pigment melanin has been produced, and appears in seals by giving them black eyes, fur and nails.

Monarch is doing well, and after a somewhat uncertain start; he’s now in the best place to recover from his nasty flipper infection and recuperate fully before his release!

Meet Caterpillar

Caterpillar is a female grey seal who was rescued on 11th October from Jersey. She was a few days old and had been separated from Her Mother. 

She is slowly gaining weight and has learnt to eat for herself!

Caterpillar has now been fitted with her very own GPS Tracker, continuing with the research with University of Exeter.

Meet Purple

Also known as Purple Hairstreak, in line with our 'Bugs and Mini Beasts' theme. Rescued by British Divers Marine Life Rescue from Fisherman's Cove in Godrevy, Purple came to us with multiple bite wounds and a severe infection in his back flipper. After a thorough veterinary examination, it was determined that he needed surgery.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, Purple received the necessary operation. We're thrilled to report that he is recovering well, has come out of his cast, and is now continuing his rehabilitation with us until he’s strong enough for release.

Purple has now been tagged with his very own GPS tag, continuing with the research with the University of Exeter.

Meet Klaus

Klaus is another one of our sponsored pups. He arrived on October 4th from Polzeath and was found dehydrated, exhausted, and had many infected wounds.  

Klaus is now doing so much better. He is completely off treatment and is waiting for his release date, already equipped with his GPS tag!

*Update*

Klaus was released on 3rd December with fellow rescued pups, JP and Sun Beetle!

Meet JP

JP is a sponsored pup that came into the Sanctuary in September after being rescued by BDLMR near Port Issac.  

He is doing really well and getting to know his fellow pool mates. 

*Update*

JP was released on 3rd December with pool mates Klaus and Sun Beetle!

Meet Sunbeetle

Sunbeetle was rescued by bdmlr on 17th sept from Trebarwith Strand.

She was a tiny 12.6kg and had multiple deep lacerations and puncture wounds to her body and flippers. She was also suffering from a respiratory infection. Sun Beetle hasn’t had an easy rehab and required several additional vet checks as we were concerned she wasn’t responding to treatment.

But in the last week she has finally started to improve and is now off treatment, feeding herself and putting on weight. Now 14.1kg. She is by far the feistiest pup we’ve had in for a long time which will see her in good stead for release!!

*Update*

Sun Beetle was released on 3rd December with fellow rescued pups, Klaus and JP!

Meet Mary

The very beautiful Mary is a sponsored pup and has recently joined Maggot in the Nursery pools.

*Update*

Mary was released on the 29th October alongside Maggot.

If you are interested in sponsoring a seal pup this pup season read more here 

Meet Maggot

The pup named ‘Maggot’, in line with our ‘Bugs & Mini Beasts’ theme for the new season, was rescued by British Divers Marine Life Rescue from Porthtowan beach on a busy summer’s day.

You can read about Maggot's rescue story here

We'll keep you updated on her progress! Follow us on social media for lots of lovely video content. 

*Update*

Maggot was released on 29th October with fellow pup Mary. As part of a study with the University of Exeter, they both have GPS trackers. We will continue to post 'pupdates' on their post-release activity on social media.