| PAST FRIENDS |
THOMAS
| Sadly Thomas, our resident cat, passed away at the beginning of April 2005. He will be greatly missed by everyone at the sanctuary. He has been buried on site in a sunny spot up at the paddocks where he can keep a watchful eye on the Sanctuary that was his home for over 20 years.
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MING
 Sadly on the 14th of October 2002 we lost our beloved Ming. Ming stood out from the other seals, because of his beautiful coat. He had been unwell for a few weeks and he had a heart attack, although the vet was on site attending to another seal, unfortunately they could not save him........below is his story as it appeared on the web site.
| MING is a grey seal pup just under a year old who was rescued from the Isle of Mull in Scotland on the 19th October 1998. It was estimated that Ming ( "smelly" in Scottish slang ) was around 2 1/2 weeks old when rescued ; a white coated pup. It was believed that Ming had become trapped in a fishing cage off the coast and had been starved of oxygen. He also had severe infection in his mouth and gums.
| Ming was nursed carefully back to health by the staff at the Oban Sealife centre who noted that he had problems with his kidneys and with his social behaviour!! Instead of being aggressive as a grey seal should, Ming was quiet and could be stroked and tickled. After being transported to Gweek, (his journey sponsored by Virgin Rail), he settled in very well, chasing his fish through the water and socializing with the other rescued pups awaiting release. Ming's progress is being monitored closely as he may improve and become viable for release in the future. It had been noticed that Ming was getting very fat and had started to loose his hair. Tests were run on his hormone systems and we have found that he has an underactive thyroid gland! This means that Ming's metabolism is slow and he has a tendency to put on weight and be lethargic. After some discussions with the International Zoo Veterinary Group - who work with all 'exotic' species, some tablets were prescribed. | |||
SCOOBY 1971 - 2000
| It is with much sadness that we have to inform all our supporters of the loss of Scooby. He died of natural causes after a long and happy life at the sanctuary, where he was a real character. He was a favourite with all our staff and visitors. He had a special way of attracting our attention during feeding time, which started with him slapping his side with one of his flippers, and this would get louder and louder until we gave him a fish.
| Scooby came to Gweek with Ken Jones in 1976 when he moved from St Agnes. Ken rescued him in 1971, making him nearly 30 years old. If you would like to see some photos of Scooby please click here. |
TWIGGY
 It is with great sadness that the National Seal Sanctuary announces the death of Twiggy, one of its oldest resident grey seals, who died last week after a serious illness.
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Twiggy’s early life was a tragic tale of abuse. Originally taken as a pup into a traveling circus, Twiggy was retained by the owner of the circus after it disbanded. She soon found herself kept as a curiosity at the back of a pub, in a pathetic enclosure with a bath tub for a pool. These confined surroundings had serious impacts on Twiggy’s physical and mental health. Eventually, at around the age of twenty, Twiggy was rescued by the RSPCA and she was first brought to the Sanctuary in 1994. Initially, her extreme fear of open spaces and deep pools, her inability to swim properly, and her anti-social nature, led to her segregation from the rest of the grey seal colony. Not wishing to mingle with the other seals in the Convalescent Pool, Twiggy chose the relative security of the Nursery Pools where she would often press her nose against a wall or ledge in an apparent effort to comfort herself. As the years passed, however, Twiggy showed much improvement, becoming less frightened of leaving her Nursery Pool and venturing out along the haulout of the larger Convalescent Pool during feeding times, getting some much-needed exercise in the process. But Twiggy was never able to lose the profound mental and physical scars that she brought with her to the Sanctuary, and, unlike the many wild pups that returned to the wild in good health, Twiggy’s rehabilitation would never end. During her many years at the Sanctuary, Twiggy endeared herself to the Animal Care Team, and captured the hearts of countless people who came to the Sanctuary and consequently pledged their support as her sponsors.
| In March of this year, Twiggy began to show signs of physical decline and illness. Her condition gradually worsened as she lost weight and struggled to complete her annual moult. Increased difficulty in breathing and a worsening cough signaled serious illness, which was confirmed in April when blood results and clinical symptoms combined to suggest cancer. Last week, it became clear that Twiggy was not responding to treatments and that her quality of life was rapidly deteriorating. As a result, the Sanctuary made the extremely difficult decision to relieve Twiggy’s suffering without delay. With the Animal Care Team by her side, she was put to sleep on April 25th. Twiggy achieved much in her life; her story touched the hearts and minds of many people. Her life is a lesson to us all. May she now rest in peace. | |||
PAULA
| Paula who was 24 years of age died in February 2001.
| A genuine seal rescue story: Paula was rescued 4 years ago by the RSPCA, who brought her to us. She weighed no more than a pup, and had a very bad ulcerated eye, she was also blind. No one thought she would survive. But thanks to the dedicated Animal Care Team and our then vet James Barnett; she recovered to live a contented life with Twiggy as her companion. Sadly in February she was taken poorly and was found to have Meningitis from which she did not recover. Twiggy is missing her, and of course, we could not leave her on her own to grieve, so we have moved her into the Convalescence pool so she has got some company. . . . . .Here is the last report on her before she died. . . . . PAULA was rescued by the RSPCA in October 1997. When she arrived at the sanctuary she was so thin, weighing only 60kg, we expected her to be a pup. However, on closer inspection we realised she was actually in her late twenties. Paula had already lost the sight in one of her eyes a few years ago and then developed a serious ulcer and infection in her remaining eye. Without her sight we believe she was struggling to look after herself and she ended up completely debilitated after having her pup that winter. Paula made a remarkable recovery and will now have a nice relaxing retirement at the Sanctuary. She is great company for Twiggy and also enjoys fish poles, using her hearing and sensitive whiskers to chase the fish around the pool. However, Paula's favourite activity is pool cleaning when she chases the Animal Care Team around the pool and rolls over to have her belly hosed and tickled! HONEY
| It is with much sadness that we have to inform all our supporters of the loss of Honey. Honey started to show symptoms of having an ear infection on Thursday the 29th of March. Small amounts of cream / yellow pus was seen running from her left ear and she had lost her appetite.
| Honey was put onto an immediate course of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and painkillers to make her comfortable. She was injected with her medicine for the first day then attempts were made to hide the pills in her fish. Unfortunately, even with something for the pain, Honey did not feel like eating. Attempts were made to inject her over the next two days but these were unsuccessful. Four days later Honey had to be put into into a crush cage - a very stressful and frightening process for any of our animals. Once crushed again we could inject Honey with her medicine. She was sectioned off into a nursery pool on her own - which she was unhappy about. On Wednesday 4th of April Honey started to loose blood from her left ear. Calling the vet in again, a ruptured abscess was suspected. Put onto a different course of treatment Honey was checked on throughout the day and night. On Thursday April 5th 2001 between 12.00 and 13.30 Honey passed away. Due to the current foot and mouth restrictions, we were unable to send her to for post mortem. Our vet Paul Riley took some samples from Honey and discovered she had some suspect tissues in her throat and around her lymph nodes in her neck. These have been sent off for analysis. Tumourous tissue is suspected. Honey will be sorely missed by all of the animal staff and site staff alike. A beautiful and graceful seal her presence will be missed in the convalescence pool by all the seals too. Here was the last report on Honey before she became unwell....... HONEY is another partially sighted female in our convalescent pool, one of the earliest pups rescued at the Gweek Sanctuary in the 1970s. She had come into contact with some sort of chemical pollutant out in the wild which damaged the surface of her eyes. She can make out shapes and shadows and definitely knows the shape of Animal Care Assistants and buckets of fish, especially when she's hungry! Like Sheba, Honey loves ice blocks and seaweed in the pool and even has a go at fish pulleys, using her sensitive whiskers and keen hearing to chase the fish. Honey has finished moulting and is looking very sleek. Back into eating regularly she has regained the weight she lost whilst being hounded by Magnus. Spending time swimming around the pool means that Honey is in fabulous form and looks lovely. SOPHIE
| Sophie a grey seal that came to us from the Isle of Wight in December 2000, was found by the poolside one morning, it was a shock, as she had not been showing any signs of being unwell playing with Ming and feeding as always. Her post mortem revealed she had lung congestion and inflammation, she died peacefully.
| click here to read her story !! |
Click here to go to our Adoption page, or here to go to the Residents page.