The Sanctuary

Harbour Views

Visit our Harbour Views Pool and meet our resident grey seals. Each of our resident grey seals carry their own unique story for living here at the Sanctuary, make sure you attend the Seal talk to find out them all. During pup season, our rescued grey seal pups will also live in this Pool as part of their final stage of rehabilitation, where they learn how to fight for their fish and how to interact with adult grey seals to help them when they are released back into the wild!

UNDERWATER VIEWING AREAS

Get up close to our fantastic creatures with our underwater viewing areas! We have three incredible
underwater viewing areas located in our Southern Sea Lion Pool, our Seal Rescue Centre and at Penguin Beach.

Discover something amazing!

PENGUIN BEACH

DID YOU KNOW?

Humboldt penguins blush to keep cool. They can flush extra blood to the pinkie patches of skin either side of their beaks to help them cool down.

WOW FACT!

Humboldt penguins are named after the Humboldt current they are native to, located in Peru. Many people find it hard to believe that these penguins love sunshine and warm weather!

Meet our comical Humboldt penguins on Penguin Beach at The Cornish Seal Sanctuary. Find out about the threats they face in the wild and what you can do to help! Can you tell who is who? Check the chart in the upstairs viewing area at the Penguin Beach to find out!

SOUTHERN SEA LION

Meet Diego up close at our Southern Sea Lion Pool. Learn more about him during our daily tours!

A group of Sea Lions in the sea is called a raft!

SEAL REHABILITATION

Each year, we rehabilitate over 70 grey seal pups from local coastal waters and bring them into our specialist Seal Hospital.

Our Seal Hospital has the facilities to look after 6 poorly Seal pups at one time. Each Seal costs over £2,000 to rehabilitate and we are incredibly grateful for the continued support from our guests.

SEAL RESCUE

The Cornish Seal Sanctuary rescues numerous pups every year. You'll be able to follow the journey of our injured seal pups through their rescue from local coastal waters, through rehabilitation and eventually release back into the wild!

SEAL RELEASE

Once our rescued seal pups injuries have healed and they have reached a healthy weight we release them back into the wild.

We couldn’t do our work without you. Every year, we rescue seal pups in need of care from around the coastline. From wounds, to entanglement to malnourishment; there are lots of reasons why seal pups might need rescuing.

Seal pups cost on average £2000 to go through rehabilitation – and this doesn’t include those that require special care, such as Ted who came to us with a broken jaw and needed surgery or Harry who was so entangled in netting his wounds were life threatening. Pups such as these need more care and this can be pricey – we had 86 rescues during the 2017 season, and the costs add up!

We are grateful for any donation received. Your money could go a long way to helping our animals get the care they really need.