RELEASED
19th January 2000 - at Port Gaven near Port Issac on the North coast
PORSCHE - SILKIE - CRACKER - BEAMER
Porsche didn't want to go and hid under the landrover, when he did go out to sea, he turned around and came back in, eventually with Silkie's help, off he went.
Silkie went without any hesitation
Cracker was a bit hesitant, then off he went
Beamer as per usual was slow to go, then off he went
SOAPY - MOHEGAN - BETTY - RONAN ..... 13th March 2000
DAIHATSU - ALFA - OLLI - KIMBERLY ..... 15th March 2000
JESSIE LOGAN - ROBIN ..... 16th March 2000
POLO - BUDDY - BUFFY - PRECIOUS ..... 17th March 2000
HANSEY - AMAZON - HERCULES ..... 1st May 2000 at Church Cove Gunwalloe.
They all went off without to much hassle, except for Hercules, he did not want to go and was bobbing up and down in the water watching Ellen and the team for around 30 mins before deciding to go after the other two.
LADA - ELIJAH - MAMBO - TEGAN ..... 2nd May 2000 at Church Cove Gunwalloe.
They all went off well except for Lada, he played in the surf and then got stuck in the rocks. After being rescued from the rocks he finally went off into the big wide sea.
PUP UPDATE June 2000
The pup rescue season started on the 12th of September this year with our first pup coming from Keneggy Sands, about 8 miles down the coast from Gweek.
SILKIE, named by her rescuers, was a white fluffy coated pup of under three weeks, who should have been being fed by her mother on milk. Unfortunately, her mother was nowhere to be seen and the staff, wary of leaving her to the mercy of the approaching high spring tide with onshore winds, brought her back to the hospital. With a small umbilical infection there was little wrong with her and a short course of antibiotics later she was being force fed her mackerel. Soon learning to feed for herself, at 20kg she was moved into an outside pool. Weighing in at 27kg at the beginning of the month she will soon be ready for the convalescence pool. Silkie continued to do well and spent several weeks in the convalescence pool gaining weight. She was released back into the wild on the 19th of January.
KIMBERLEY was rescued on the 21st of September in a very similar condition to Silkie. She also had an upset stomach that was treated with settling agents before she could be given a fish diet. Again feeding herself relatively quickly, she was moved into a nursery pool on site and is weighing in at 26 kg to date. After spending some weeks in the convalescence pool Kimberley was bitten by another pup on the right rear flipper. She was put back into a nursery pool where we could clean the wound regularly and ensure she was eating the medication hidden in her fish. She will remain in this pool until her current course of antibiotics are complete when she will be moved back in readiness for release. Kimberley was released on the 15th March.
CRACKER was rescued from Crackington Haven on 24th September by the RSPCA. He was in poor condition with multiple puncture wounds all over his body. Although the wounds seemed to be healing well Cracker had no appetite and his blood results showed problems with his liver function. The vet suspected abscesses on the liver and he was taken in for x-rays. Cracker is now becoming a very aggressive pup to handle. He is very snappy and angry at being touched and to the team's delight has just started to chew at the fish left in his hospital pool. The most recent blood results have improved remarkably so Cracker is at last on the mend. Cracker was moved down onto site sharing a nursery pool with Soapy a female pup. After doing well and reaching 30 kg in weight he was moved to the convalescence pool. After a few teething problems with adjusting to lots of other animals he did well; being released back into the wild from Port Gaverne on the north coast.
DAIHATSU and ALPHA are two pups who were rescued by the RSPCA and named after cars! Daihatsu (shortened to Dai - he's Welsh) is a feisty male pup who has little wrong with him. He is currently learning to feed himself and when he does he will be off down to site. Alpha is a sweet female pup who has problems with her front flippers. One developed an abcess which needed lancing, the other has problems with one toe, which does not bend. She is awaiting x-rays on the 8th November. As yet Alpha is not feeding herself and has to be force fed her fish. It is to be hoped that when she feels a little better she will learn to feed herself. Dai is doing very well in the convalescence pool now. He is a vocal pup who loves the sound of his own voice. He will be one of the next seal pups released. Alpha unfortunately has not fared so well. After an abscess broke open on her left flipper an x-ray was taken and it was found that Alpha had advanced bone infection in one of her knuckle joints. She has been re x-rayed three times since and has finally made some headway. An aggressive eye ulcer on her right eye has also been a problem for Alpha but at last things are looking up. She will be moved into a nursery pool on site the next week Alpha eventually healed and was released on the north coast on the 15th March.
MAMBO is a beautiful male pup with very dark fur. He came into the hospital on the 19th of October. With bacterial infections on the front of both of his eyes and a front claw torn out and infected, he was in a bad way. Mambo is responding to aggressive antibiotic therapy and we have the infection in his 'finger' bones under control. Hopefully when the flipper has healed a little more Mambo can be moved into the main wing of the hospital. Mambo has been free from infection for three weeks now and has progressed to the convalescence pool where he is quite bossy! Released on 2nd May he went straight out to sea!
SOAPY rescued from Soapy Cove on 20th October Soapy is a bright and chirpy little pup. She loves her fish and has just to recover from an eye infection before she can be moved down to the nursery pools on site. Soapy is now one of the fattest pups in the convalescence pool where she is doing very well. Soapy was eventually released on 13th March.
OLLI is a large white coated pup with no health problems. He was brought to the sanctuary due to public interference. Alone on his birth beach awaiting his mother's return Olli was handled and frightened by people and their dogs on the beach. He will not accept a bottle to suckle his milk from so has to be stomach tubed every four hours. This is uncomfortable and very stressful for him. The staff are eagerly awaiting the day when Olli starts to lose his white coat as then he can be weaned onto fish. Once feeding on fish Olli was moved out into a nursery pool where he loved the company of Precious, a female pup. Olli's tag in his rear flipper has unfortunately been pulled out by another pup who has chased him in the pool and bitten it. Olli's flipper healed well and he was released on 15th March.
PRECIOUS was rescued by the Lifeboat men of Padstow, who spotted her down a sheer cliff being smashed into the cliff face. There were very high seas and the crew of Padstow lifeboat were already out assisting a fishing boat in distress. Two men managed to get Precious into a fishing box and hauled her up onto the lifeboat station. She was kept on a leash as she may have got in the way of the winch in the boat house! Suffering from multiple wounds and grazes to her tiny body she was given emergency first aid and treatment in the lifeboat house by sanctuary staff, before being transported back to the hospital; finally arriving in her isolation pen at 1am the following morning! Precious has done very well at the sanctuary and is a beautiful seal who is already very wary of people. She can swim extremely fast when frightened and darts through the water at speed. She has bumped her flipper on the side of the pool and it is a little swollen at present. She will be monitored closely over the next few days to see if any swelling develops. Precious' flipper was fine and she was released near Padstow on 17th March.
BEAMER was rescued by the RSPCA at St.Ives on the north coast, on 31st October '99. He had superficial wounds and was thin. The seal hospital was full however, and Beamer had to be transported to West Hatch, the RSPCA's wildlife hospital in Somerset. Beamer was a sulky pup who did not like sharing his pen with any other seals! After he was moved to Gweek, he looked a little under the weather. A short course of antibiotics later and he was well again and could be mixed in with another pup in a nursery pool. Beamer was unfriendly to all the pups he shared a small pool with. He finally settled down and became an aggressive little pup once in the convalescence pool. Beamer was released from the north coast just over a week ago.
PORSCHE was rescued from the north coast by the RSPCA in October. She was an aggressive pup from the start who learned to feed herself rapidly and responded well to treatment. Fairing very well in the convalescence pool she grew quickly and was released from Port Gaverne on 19th January, weighing a very healthy 65 kg!
LADA was rescued on the 31st of October by the RSPCA in Wales. He was a very sorry looking pup with an advanced infection in his right eye and small ulcers in the left one. An initial test also showed him to have salmonella. We quickly got on top of his infection by putting him on a daily course of antibiotics and by the continued application of eye drops every three hours! Although Lada has lost most of the sight in his right eye, we managed to save the other one and he can now see perfectly well. He is enjoying himself in the convalescence pool with the other pups and is rapidly putting on weight. Lada eventually was released on 2nd May.
JESSIE LOGAN was brought down to us on 3rd November last year, from the RSPCA wildlife centre at West Hatch. She was originally rescued from Coombe Martin, Devon. Jessie didn't have much wrong with her apart from the fact that she was a bit underweight for her age. We quickly got her feeding for herself and she can be seen having fun in the outside convalescence pool. Jessie was released on 16th March.
HANSY was picked up from Godrevy Sands during rough weather on the 28th November1999. Weighing only 11.5 kg she was very small and nearly four kilograms under her birth weight of 14 kg. Although very exhausted she still had a lot of fight left in her and she quickly started to gain weight, being fed every four hours throughout the night. Hansy was released on 1st May.
BUFFY was so named because of her very large teeth (like a vampire) and aggressive nature. She was rescued from St. Agnes on the 1st December 1999 looking very underweight and tired. We had know doubt however, that she was going to do very well because when we showed her, her first fish, she had it down her throat and into her stomach before you could even blink! Buffy is now enjoying the company of another pup Buddy, out in the nursery pools. Buffy was release with Buddy her friend on 17th March.
ELIJAH was rescued from Torpoint near Plymouth. He was suffering from a badly swollen rear flipper, and it was feared that he had a fracture there. However after one day of treatment the swelling came down and our fears subsided. He made a very quick recovery and did not have to stay in the hospital for very long. He has now been in the Convalescence pool for a few weeks and is doing extremely well. He is a quiet little pup and really does enjoy his fish. Elijah was huge when released weighing approx. 90kg! He was returned to the sea on 3rd May.
BUDDY was rescued from Bude on the North coast of Cornwall. He was extremely underweight, weighing only 17kg when he should have weighed around 40kg. It seems that Buddy had problems finding food in the wild as he had no injuries or illnesses. He was found marooned after being washed over a break water. Buddy had no trouble feeding and quickly starting eating as much food as he possibly could. Sometimes he ate so much he made himself sick Buddy was put into the Convalescence pool and is doing really well. He is always looking for food and loves playing with his friends Tegan and Buffy. You can sometimes see him basking in the buoy that floats around the pool. Buddy was released with Buffy on 17th March.
ROBIN came to us from the RSPCA at West Hatch. He was originally rescued because he was underweight and it was discovered that he had an infected eye. Unfortunately he has lost all sight in his left eye. He is doing really well in the convalescence pool and is putting on weight quickly. Robin was released on 16th March on the north coast.
MONSOON was rescued from Porthcothan as he was very underweight and weak. He also had a very chesty cough. Monsoon was treated for his cough and a few superficial wounds. He started eating fish very quickly and soon moved down to the nursery pools. He is a very gentle pup who has adapted very well to life in the convalescence pool. Monsoon was released on the 11th May, near to his rescue site.
JOSEPH was picked up near Newquay due to malnourishment. He was tiny for his age weighing only 11.5kg at 7 weeks old. Even though he was tiny Joseph thought that he was very big and tried to make us believe that he was really savage by growling and grunting at us. He was nik-named G.I.-Jo due to this and also because of his dappled coat resembles a pair of combat trousers. He started to feed for himself very quickly and soon started to gain a lot of weight. Joseph is still in the hospital due to a reoccurring ear infection. Now that Joseph is over 25kg he has turned into a very aggressive pup that will only tolerate us in his pen for short periods of time. Joseph has finally recovered from his problems and is awaiting release.
TEGAN was reported to us by a member of the public mostly because she had a fish hook embedded in her lower eye lid. When we finally reached her we discovered that she was also very underweight. She was brought into the hospital where our vet quickly removed the hook. Tegan recovered very well from this injury and starting feeding straight away. She is a very confident pup and had no problems when she was moved into the convalescence pool. Tegan was released on the 2nd May.
HARPER was rescued from Porthgwidden, St Ives on the 28th December. He was found by a member of the public looking very exhausted. The tide however was coming in and when we had the call at the sanctuary we had ½ to get to St Ives before the tide would wash him away. St Ives is approximately a ¾ drive from the sanctuary so we were cutting it very fine. We decided to call up a member of British Divers Marine Life Rescue as he lived in St Ives and asked if he could look at the pup for us and assess whether it needed to be hospitalised. Two members of the team then set off. When we arrived at the beach the tide was in and there was no sign of the pup. Fearing that the pup had been washed away , we tried to contact Pete. He has already picked the pup up and was just around the corner held safely in a fish box. Harper was underweight, snuffily and had numerous wounds on his flippers and neck, probably bite wounds afflicted by another seal. Harper made very quick progress, he responded well to antibiotics and drugs for his respiratory problems and within one month he had doubled in weight and was moved into the convalescent pool. Harper is up to weight and is awaiting release.
MARY was rescued just before the millennium on the 28th December. She had eye ulcers, but was in reasonable condition. Unfortunately our hospital was full at the time of her rescue, and because of her reasonable size it was decided that she would be put in the Penguin pool, where she would be kept dry and receive her treatment. This proved quite a challenge for members of the team, particularly at night time when she needed to be tube fed. Luckily James Barnett, the sanctuary's ex vet was helping out over Christmas and came in to assist a member of the team at night time with his fabulous Christmas present - a huge maglite !. Mary remained in the pool for approx one month, her blood results showed a mild infection so we treated her with antibiotics and eye drops to clear up the ulcers. Her appetite was enormous and she was moved to the convalescent pool on the 29th January. Mary was released on 11th May.
MOHEGAN was rescued on the 30th December from Kynance Cove. He again was underweight weighing 17 kg. He had a very high temperature that was quickly reduced by extensive fluid therapy and he also had some wounds, some of which were very deep exposing bone tissue. These were cleaned daily with cleaning solution and he was given a course of antibiotics. He quickly regained his aggressive behaviour and it became quite a struggle to clean his wounds. Luckily they cleared up really well and he was moved to an outside nursery pool within a couple of weeks. He reached the last stage in rehabilitation on the 29th January by moving into the convalescent pool. The next move will be back out into the wild. Mohegan was released on the 13th March.
BETTY was the first millennium baby!. She was rescued by the sanctuary on the 6th January. She was tiny weighing only 13 kilo's and also had a badly infected joint in her flipper. This was x-rayed to clarify our suspicions. She was put onto special antibiotics specially for bones and responded well to treatment. Once Betty started feeling better her appetite grew and she started to pile on the pounds. She has been moved out of the isolation unit and into the hospital. Her weight now is 22kg's! Betty reached her release weight and returned to the sea on Land's End.
POLO was rescued by the RSPCA on the 2nd January from Castle Martin, Devon. He had numerous wounds and was underweight. He was transported to the sanctuary so he could mix with other seals. We did a routine blood sample, and the results showed no infection. We did however notice that Polo was developing an odd shape, his spine appeared slightly twisted and he also seemed to have a bulge at the lower end of his body. We took another blood sample, and had it tested for liver functions, growth etc. These were analysed and at present we are little uncertain as to whether he has an irreversible spinal deformity or a curable illness. Further tests are being carried out, and we are awaiting good news. Polo's back never caused him trouble - he was such a fit and happy seal in the end we decided not to put him through the stress of x-rays. He competed well in the convalescence pool, reached his target weight rapidly and was released on 17th March.
RONAN was rescued from Lands End on the 13th January. He had been spotted by some local people two days prior to his rescue on some rocks at Porthgwarra cove. The next time they spotted him he had made his way up a very steep slip way and was sleeping on some grass. Not really typical behaviour!!. Being quite concerned they called the sanctuary and a member of the team and a volunteer attended. On arrival the pup was easily spotted resting quite far inland. Ronan appeared very tired. It proved quite a challenge for the animal care assistant as she tried to handle the animal and give fluids on a very steep bumpy slipway. Finally after the initial assessment it was decided that the pup should be taken back to the hospital as he was underweight and his general demeanour was worrying. He should have been out at sea fishing and socialising, not sleeping on some grass quite a way from the sea and in a busy village!!!. We carried out some routine blood tests, which showed no infection. He did however have Lungworm that is a parasite that affects seal pups lungs. We gave his some special treatments and are monitoring him in the hospital. He is doing really well and we hope to move him outside to a pool where he will be able to play with other pups. Ronan, fully recovered and weighing approx. 85kg, returned to the sea on 13th March.
AMAZON is a female pup named after a shipwreck. She was rescued from the Hayle estuary on the 14th January after being spotted by a member of the public. The gentleman noticed that one of her eyes was damaged and weeping. She was picked up and brought to the sanctuary's hospital where she was given extensive eye treatment. Her eye has healed well and she is currently in one of our outside Nursery pools, awaiting the Convalescent pool. Amazon was released after gaining weight and developing well in the convalescence pool. Released on the 1st May she was unfortunately washed in dead 3 weeks later. Sanctuary staff went to see her remains in Crackington Haven where she had probably died of injuries resulting from being washed against a rocky reef. We were all saddened by her fate.
GUNVOR was rescued from Port Isaac on the 16th January. He had suffered an injury to his eye. Eye problems are quite common with seals. They have huge bold eyes that are certainly vulnerable to infections, pollutants and debris floating around in the sea. Once in our hospital he was treated with eye drops. Unfortunately his eye did not respond well to this sort of treatment, it closed for a short time, the treatment was changed and at present we are still treating the eye, hoping for improvement. If the eye does not improve there is a chance that we will have to remove it. He can still be released as seals do manage very well in the wild if they have 100% sight in one eye. It's only when they do not have 100% in both eyes that they appear to have problems. Gunvor is fit and healthy and awaiting release.
TATE was named after the place where she was discovered. Below the Tate Gallery in St Ives. She is extremely small weighing only 11kg when first brought in and she is by far the smallest pup we have had in this year. Apart from her malnourishment there was not much else wrong with her. She, as yet, is not feeding herself properly. She does however rip up her fish and then eat all the little bits off the floor. Due to her size Tate is unable to regulate her body temperature. She therefore has to have her temperature taken every four hours. When she is very cold we give her a long rub down with a towel and dry off the floor of her pen. She is a real sweet heart as has certainly won the hearts of the team. Tate is still only 32kg! Life in the convalescence pool has been tough on her but she is not frightened to argue with the adults for her fish. Recent blood tests do not reveal any abnormalities - she may just be a slow developer.
FLOYD was named by a member of the public after being spotted on some rocks looking very snuffily and tired. He was rescued on the 21st January from Praa sands. The rescue took some energy and strength as Floyd was in amongst some rocks. After a long walk and climb we reached him and had the awkward task of trying to cage him up on rocks, but once caged the hard work started of carrying him over the tall rocks, and along the beach. He was tubed on the beach so he would not over heat on the way back to the sanctuary. He was treated with lots of medicines for his very bad chest and is doing really well. Floyd if fit and awaiting release.
SAXO was another pup rescued by the RSPCA. He was treated as West Hatch Wildlife Hospital in Devon, before being transported to the sanctuary. The main reason for his move was so that he could mix with other seals and learn to compete for his fish, like in the wild. He will be released in the next couple of months along with all the other seal pups. Saxo was released on 11th May and filmed by the Really Wild Show as he returned to sea. This footage will be screened next year.
BARNABY, SUZUKI AND HERCULES were pups all rescued by the RSPCA. The joined the sanctuary really just to go through our rehabilitation programme for pups. Going straight into outside pools and feeding themselves, all the animal care team had to do was tag them, blood test them and help them put on weight and develop. Barnaby and Hercules have been released - both on the 11th May. Suzuki awaits some nice weather before joining them

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