News Update June/July 2009 As you are probably aware, we are in the middle of the common seals breeding season and the injured pups are starting to arrive here for their treatment and rehabilitation. American Vet Student visits Sanctuary! American Vet Student visits Sanctuary to gain vital knowledge of seal pup rehabilitation. Our reputation seems to be growing as earlier this month we had a work placement student with us for 3 weeks who came all the way from America - just so she could learn about seal pup care. Emma Steigerwald, 19 years old, is studying at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Currently studying Biology and Chemistry before embarking on a veterinary qualification. Emma contacted us as she was desperate to learn about marine mammals mammals. She has already completed various other animal work placements including working with tigers and lions!! Emma has family living in the area and has visited us before as a child, upon looking at the Sanctuary website while at University in America and after seeing images of the seals and the rescue work we do with them, decided that she would love to come over and learn all about the rehabilitation and release work. Emma spent 3 weeks learning as much as she could about the important seal pup care we provide before returning back to America. Rescued Seal Pups Flipper, a common seal pup, was rescued from Snettisham beach on 16th June 2009. When arrived at the sanctuary she weighed 10kg and was only about 24 hours old - she arrived back at the Seal Rescue Centre with her umbilical cord still attached...More>> Lassie, a female common seal, was rescued on 24th June 2009 from Heacham beach. She weighed 11kg upon arrival and was approximately 1-2 weeks old...More>> Einstein, a male common seal pup, was rescued from Snettisham beach on 25th June 2009 weighing 13kg on arrival. He was thought to be about 2 weeks old when rescued...More>> Our Penguins Our Otters Charlie & Harvey are currently building their own nest with whatever debris they can find, but have decided to build a nest NOT in their nice nestbox which we provided BUT outside of the box! - seems they know what they are doing anyway. The otters are enjoying the warmer weather, playing in their shallow pond. We are treating them on really warm days with special ice lollies that we make for them - fish, meat and vegetables all frozen in tubs of water to make giant ice lollies - YUMMY!! Our Resident Seals Sally is still top of the leader board at being the oldest resident seal, at the age of 21!! She is in very good health for her age – we think she always likes it when we have rescued pups in the pool with her as it keeps her busy with young mischievious seals around. Amber is still the cheekiest seal we have, she loves to make waves around the pool by swimming around really quick and splashing at the surface - sometimes it looks like she is trying to show the other younger pups how to do it!! Sooty and Buck soon to be returned! Sooty sleeps most of his time away - he is by far the laziest seal we have. Buck is by far the most aggressive seal we have at the moment - he got his name from the days when we had to treat his wounds when he was first rescued - he used to behave like a bucking bronco! - trying to throw us off when we had to straddle over him to clean his sores. We are now planning to release Sooty and Buck, the young seals, back into the wild again and will very soon have a date! We will keep you informed as soon as we can confirm a time and date for their release.