The Sanctuary started in the winter of 1958 when a baby seal, only a few hours old, was washed up on the beach at St Agnes. Ken Jones lived with his wife just one hundred yards from the beach, he picked up the pup and took it back to his small garden. For many years he ran a rescue centre for seals and oiled birds, with just one pool, at St Agnes. The news of his work with seals spread, and he received more and more calls about injured seals.

Ken realised he needed more room, as the single pool at St Agnes was just not big enough. The Sanctuary moved to Gweek in 1975, and Ken slowly built up the size, and number of pools, so he could care for the increasing number of seals that were being rescued around the Cornish coast.

Today the Sanctuary has Nursery pools, Convalescence, and Resident pools, and a specially designed Hospital. The hospital over the years has been extended to include isolation pools, as well as treatment and preparation areas.

We have rescued many seals over the years, and most are well enough to be released back into the wild after treatment, but some seals, for various reasons, would not survive back in the wild, so we have them as our guests at the Sanctuary.

In addition to the Grey and Common Seals, we have Fur Seals and Californian & Patagonian Sea Lions. The Sanctuary also provides a much-needed haven for a variety of other animals, such as Otters, Ponies and Goats. Occasionally the Sanctuary's facilities and expertise are called upon to aid in the rescue of other marine creatures such as Dolphins and Turtles.

Click here go back