Kerplunk was rescued on 27th September 2015
Kerplunk, a 2 week old grey female seal pup, was rescued on the 27th September 2015 from the rock pools at Crackington Haven beach initially by Michelle Robinson Clement, a member of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) medic, as the tide was coming in fast.

New BDMLR medics Ruth & Adam and also Fiona McCauley assisted with checking the pup´s temperature and weighing, and Michelle tube fed the pup some fluids.
Kerplunk - photos by Michelle Robinson Clement
Kerplunk - photos by Michelle Robinson Clement The pup was found with a deep bite wound which caused a broken rear left flipper and she weighed 27kgs.

Kerplunk was transported by car to the Gweek by members of the BDMLR team.

Photo left and above was taken by Michelle Robinson Clement.
Upon arrival at the Seal Sanctuary, members of the Animal Care Team carried out a full assessment of the pup, because of the injured flipper the local vet from Head & Head in Helston was called in to examine the injury.

Unfortunately an x-ray found that all but one of the upper bones in the pup´s rear left flipper were broken which means that Kerplunk is going to have to have it removed, but the team hope that she will be able to adapt her swimming style to cope with any disability so she should still be able to be released back into the wild!
Kerplunk
Kerplunk in hospital pen No. 3 Update - 10th October 2015 : Kerplunk is currently on antibiotics, pain killers, multi-vitamins and iron supplements. Also being transitioned onto fish. The Animal Care Team says Kerplunk is a very noisy seal pup and lets them know when she is ready for her next feed!

Update - 25th October 2015 : This photo of Kerplunk was taken in the hospital´s pen number 3 on 23rd October 2015, he weighs 24kgs.   Click here  to see a larger version of this photo of Kerplunk.
Kerplunk was moved down to the outside nursery pool on 24th October 2015 for his next stage of rehabilitation.

Click here  to see a larger version of this photo of Kerplunk.

Click here to watch a short video of Kerplunk swimming in nursery pool number 1.

Kerplunk´s flipper tag number is 52 (blue).
Kerplunk in nursery pen number 1
Kerplunk in convalescent pool Update - 30th November 2015 : Kerplunk is currently in the outside convalescent pool for her final stage of rehabilitation and learning how to compete for fish during feeding time with other rescued seal pups and resident adult seals.

Update - 1st January 2016 : This photo of Kerplunk in the convalescent pool was taken on 27th December 2015.

Click here to see a larger version of this and a further photo.
Update - 6th February 2016 : Kerplunk has learnt to adapt her swimming style despite her disability so she has been able to be released back into the wild along with Uno, Boggle, Jenga, Euchre and Checkers on 4th February 2016 at Gwithian.

Click here to watch a video of the seal release by Pirate FM Radio.
Seal Release - 4th February 2016
Kerplunk - Photo by Sue Sayer of the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust Update - 2nd April 2016 : With excitement amongst the members of Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust (CSGRT) when the first two 2015/16 rehabbed seals, Kerplunk was sighted back in the wild on 18th February 2016 and Uno on 31st March 2016 - ironically the first two that were rescued - that´s never happened before! Click here to read more.

© Photo left of Kerplunk was taken by Sue Sayer. Click here to see a larger photo of this.


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