| CHILLI - Arrived 30/11/02 | |
| Chilli was the final pup to arrive from Thurso and as his name suggests he has a fiery temperament. Chilli was picked up on the 22nd of November on the road near Wick harbour. During severe storms he had surfed over the harbour wall and landed in the middle of the road. Apart from a few scuffs and scrapes he came through his ordeal unscathed. He was a small pup at only 10kg, and was around 3 weeks old. | 
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| He is feeding well now he´s at the sanctuary and has taken to whole fish well. Hopefully he´ll put weight on quickly and grow to be a far fatter, healthier pup. He is a very noisy addition and makes some really odd noises. Sometimes it sounds like there is an engine revving in his pen! | |
| UPDATE 19th January 2003 | |
| Chilli is now almost unrecognisable as the pup in the above picture. He has come on in leaps and bounds, learning to hand feed very quickly and gaining weight well. He is now able to eat fish from the bottom of his pen and needs very little care from us.
For a while Chilli´s future was uncertain as routine blood tests showed he had been exposed to PDV, the viral infection currently affecting Common and Grey seals around Europe´s coastline. Like Pepper he showed mild symptoms of the virus such as sneezing and coughing. After a few weeks it became clear that he was no longer under the weather and will luckily pull through. Neither Pepper nor Chilli will be able to move to our outdoor pools before their release. This is because, although they are recovering from the virus, they may still be able to pass it to our residents and the other rescued pups. Instead of moving outdoors they will spend some time in the weaning pool and be released straight from there. | |
| UPDATE 15th February 2003 | |
 | Chilli is still a very independent pup. He now has two pens to move around in giving him a little more space in which to feed and play. Once Pepper has learned to feed himself in the pool Chilli will join him. In the pool Chilli will get some vital exercise and enjoy direct contact with another seal. |
| UPDATE 2nd April 2003 | |
 | Chilli was released back into the wild on the 2nd of April, at our release site near Arisaig having reached a healthy release weight of 57kg! He had developed into a nice, if shy, seal while in the weaning pool. He loved to hide under the weaning pool haul-out site and only poke his head out when there was a noise outside, his comedy act making many visitors laugh. |
| It was no surprise when Chilli moved straight towards the open water as soon as he was allowed out of his travelling cage. He couldn´t wait to get away, body surfing the small waves until he reached deeper water. Chilli was in no doubt that this was where he belonged and I´m sure he´ll do very well back in the wild. | |
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