RAY
Ray, a rescued pup Ray was picked up from Widemouth Bay on the 12th of October 2001, approximately 3 weeks of age. He was fairly malnourished and found at the top end of the beach, as far away from the water as possible with his nose pressed up against the side of a rock face. When he first arrived at the sanctuary it was apparent that his behaviour was a little different to the other pups.
We are monitoring him closely to see how he reacts with other seals and how well he competes for his fish. He is very quiet and brain damage has not been ruled out, the vet also drew attention to the shape of Ray’s head, which is very different to the other pups. It may be that Ray suffered trauma to this area as a pup, possibly crushed by an adult bull? Further tests revealed he is brain damaged, so he will be given a permanent home at the sanctuary.
GNASHER
Gnasher was rescued by the RSPCA from Devon on the 3rd of October 2001. She was malnourished, so she spent short a time in the hospital to gain a little more weight before being introduced to outside nursery pools. Moved to the outside nursery pool, she developed a swelling to her right hand side of muzzle, which was an abscess. After a course of antibiotics, it quickly healed. her weight increased nicely and she was moved into convalescent pool on 11th of November 2001.

She was released on 22nd of March 2002 on the north coast of Cornwall with two other pups, Scampi and Pluto. She was tagged with a blue painted circle on her head. Sadly not long after her release, she was found dead on a beach on the south coast of Cornwall quite a long distance a way from where she had been released. She was reported to be in good body condition with no obvious wounds or abnormalities. Unfortunately she was washed out with the tide before we could collect her for a post mortem.

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