ALI WOOD IS A FREELANCE JOURNALIST: WWW.ALI-WOOD.COM. SHE
TRAVELLED TO ASSAM WITH INDIA TOURISM AND ASSAM TOURISM.NATUREGHOST, WAVE AND ROCKET BY SUE SAYER; GULL BY ROB WELLS; SPADE BY SUE SAYER AND DAVE BOYLEcream tea. The youngsters pile on about 10kg a week and
gain strength rapidly – but then they have to, because when
they are just three weeks old their mums leave them to fend
for themselves. As novice swimmers inexperienced at finding
their own food, newly independent pups lose a lot of weight
before working out how to feed themselves.
Some pups face even greater odds. Female grey seals are
sensitive to disturbance, and may abandon their pups early
rather than risk staying on a beach visited by humans and
especially dogs. Extreme weather events can also separate
mums and pups. A lone white-coat pup weighing less than
20kg is doomed – unless it is taken to a rescue centre. Those
collected around the Cornish coast by Sue, Dave and other
volunteers end up at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek,
at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula, where they
receive specialist rehabilitation.
It’s not only pups that have trouble. Seals of all ages have
accidents, and the sanctuary routinely treats broken flippers
caused by boat strikes. Entanglement in fishing gear is a
growing problem, too – some animals swim for months towing
nets or ropes. “Even a small piece of looped net removed from a
beach could save a life,” says Sue. “Please pick it up!”
When at sea entangled seals can’t be helped, whereas
those on beaches can be caught and freed, or taken in forrehab. But this is
only possible with
young individuals – a
frightened two-year-
old seal can easily drag
two men off their feet,
while restraining an
adult might require six
to eight rescuers.
Luckily most of the seals that are rehabilitated at Gweek
return to the wild, and there’s every chance that they will
be seen again and recognised. Every year Cornwall’s seal-
spotters receive sightings of ex-rescue animals from locations
that are as widespread as Devon, Wales, France and Holland.
It all goes to show just how mobile grey seals can be –
and that the rehabilitation work is well worth the effort.
As Sue says, “It’s often freezing cold and wet, but knowing
that our efforts in research, rescue and rehab are making
a difference is ample reward.” ßMost of the seals that
are rehabilitated at the
Cornish Seal Sanctuary
return to the wild
SEAL STORIES
The mini-biographies of these grey seals have been
taken from the ever-expanding database
of the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust.GHOST
has visited the same Cornish beach for three weeks
every year for 13 consecutive years to give birth; 11 of
her 13 pups have survived. But so far Ghost has never
been spotted anywhere else. One day Sue Sayer hopes
to discover where she goes.WAVES
has had four pups (the
third is shown here)
at three sites along a
75km stretch of north
Cornish coast, and has
been seen moulting
on the south Cornish
coast. This tells us that
not all seal mums are
faithful to the same site- in fact some move
around a lot.
SPADE
made the return trip from south Cornwall to Skomer
island, off Pembrokeshire, for two years running. She
was sadly found dead on 8 April 2015.
ROCKET
has been identified
73 times, making
four return journeys
between three
monitoring sites. His
movements show that
males return to their
natal beaches.GULL
appeared in a set of photos sent by a new volunteer in
south Devon, extending the known range of the Celtic Sea
population and demonstrating how even a single photo can
improve our understanding of the jigsaw of seal-habitat use.SPADE
BEAST
was rescued from
a fishing net when
four months old.
He was released
from the Cornish
Seal Sanctuary
in March 2015 after his wound healed, and has been
identified 15 times at two locations.to disto dissco