It´s April 2024 and the Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) have arrived at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary. The staff cannot contain their excitement about the new arrivals, neither can the Puffins!
The brand new Puffin island, home for the rescued Puffins, is now open for business and the puffins wasted no time in making themselves at home. After travelling all the way from the Beluga Whale Sanctuary & Puffin Rescue Centre in Iceland, they finally arrived at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary on the 3rd of April 2024 and couldn´t wait to get out and explore their new home and most importantly, test out the pool!
These puffling patients cannot be released for various reasons back into the wild, currently there are long-term resident Puffins at the Sanctuary. Some have vision impairments; one has a leg injury and a few others were cared for by individuals for too long to be released. The birds receive daily care and enrichment from our animal care team, and will have quarterly veterinary exams to keep up their health! Click here to read the Press Release.
Meet one of the lovely Icelandic rescued Puffins...Freyja
Freyja (photo below) was rescued in 2017 by the SEA LIFE Trust Beluga Whale Sanctuary in Iceland when she was only a little puffllng. She was small and not eating well and had no waterproofing, meaning she needed a little extra care during her rehabilitation. Once she was fully recovered Freyja refused to leave her keepers so stayed with the Sanctuary.
Freyja is now a very happy puffin, swimming and diving like a pro in the new enclosure in Puffin Island. She has also partnered up with a very handsome puffin called Thor, who will be her mate for life.
Click here to see a selection of the photos of the Puffins which were taken in mid April 2024.
This short video was filmed the day after the Puffins arrived in their new home at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary!
These photos of the rescued seal pups,
Emma Stone in rehabilitation pool,
Jennifer Aniston in nursery pool 2,Lough Eske in nursery pool 4,Margot Robbie in rehabilitation pool,
Raven Symone in nursery pool 3 and
River Dee in the nursery pool 1, were taken on the 18th and 20th of April 2024.
They all spent a few weeks in the hospital and now in the outside pools, this means they are on the road to recovery and mixing with each other, also have deeper pools to swim in. Pups in the nursery pools will be learning how to behave in the wild, interacting with other seals and also competing for their fish, which are all vital skills they will need when they are released back out into the wild.
The weather conditions in Cornwall were perfect to release John Henry, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lough Rea, who have been staying at the Sanctuary for the past few months to be released back into the wild on the 17th of April 2024 at Perranuthnoe beach in South Cornwall.
They were all at a good weight and fully recovered thanks to the care and expertise of the brilliant Animal Care Team. It is such an amazing feeling for the team to see them happily "galumphing" back home. Good luck little ones.
Well done and a HUGE congratulations to our supporter, Julie, who completed the London Marathon for the Cornish Seal Sanctuary on Sunday the 21st of April 2024! She has been training so hard over the past few months, even through the howling wind, rain, and hail!
Julie has raised an amazing £850 (including gift aid) in total so far. It´s not too late...If you would like to support Julie, head over to her Just Giving page.
Julie said "I´m so grateful to everyone who donated and supported me, especially my family who spurred me on to an adrenalin-filled finish! I feel proud to have been able to run for the Sanctuary and that the money raised can go towards future projects to help the seals."
Thank you Julie - you really are a Seal Superstar!
Exciting news...We are pleased to announce that lambing season has begun in late March/early April for the Greyface Dartmoor sheep. The pregnant ewes were housed offsite for a few weeks and now moved back to the paddocks with their very cute adorable lambs.
Click here or the image below to see a selection of the photos of the Paddock Animals which were taken in April 2024.
Click here to see a selection of the photos of the Resident Seals which were taken in April 2024.
Click here to see a selection of the photos of the Resident Common Seals which were taken in April 2024.
We went to check on a
Seal Colony in West Cornwall in April 2024. Click here to see a selection of the photos - it was amazing to watch them, all photos taken using a very large telephoto lens.
Each released seal pup is given a flipper tag with an unique ID number. This helps the Cornish Seal Sanctuary and the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust (CSGRT) to track and monitor where pups end up and how they are doing once they are back in the wild.
This month the following seals were spotted in the wild by members of the CSGRT from around the coast of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly:-
The information regarding tagged seals seen in the wild is copyright of the CSGRT.
By monitoring the behaviour of seals after release back into the wild, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary and the CSGRT can use this information to define the best practice standards and policies that they can share with the international rescue community.
Each seal´s fur pattern is unique and enables the CSGRT volunteers track them for life.
Seals face many challenges, yet we all depend on them to balance our marine ecosystem, which is essential to make the oxygen we breathe.
Seals are our globally rare wildlife tourist attraction, helping diversify coastal economic prosperity.
Click here to find out what to do if you find a Seal Pup or a Seal?
