Neil was rescued on 8th February 2025
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The Cornish Seal Sanctuary received a telephone call from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue´s (BDMLR) area coordinator asking for their assistance to check on a seal pup alone on the beach at Kennack Sands. Anne and Beth, members of the animal care team, were dispatched to check on the pup.
The pup was found with a snotty nose, ulcerated eyes, few minor wounds, malnourished, underweight for his age. Whilst on the beach, the team tested the pup for Avian Flu which was a negative result.
This 3 months old male grey seal pup has been named Neil was brought back to the Sanctuary´s hospital for care and treatment.
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Photo Credit - Lindsey Mac - BDMLR
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Update - 12th February 2025 :
On arrival at the seal hospital, the Sanctuary´s vet carried out an assessment and then prescribed a course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
After being cared for in the isolation area of the hospital, he is now well enough to be in the main hospital where he is learning to eat his fish by himself and will practise swimming. When he has put on a little more weight, he will be moved to outside nursery pools to continue his rehabiltation.
These photos below were taken on 12th February 2025 in the hospital.
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Update - 15th March 2025 : This handsome seal pup, Neil, has joined Rainy-Bat, a fellow rescued pup, in the outside nursery pools. Together they´re learning essential survival skills, including how to compete for food, an important step in preparing for life in the wild! Neil and Rainy-Bat are enjoying saying hello to the visitors through the window in the underwater viewing area.
His flipper tag ID number is SL323 (yellow).
These photos below were taken on 13th March 2025 in the nursery pool 2.
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Update - 8th April 2025 : Neil is currently in the rehabilitation pool with Rainy-Bat, this means they are both almost ready to return home to the ocean.
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Update - 20th April 2025 : Neil along with Rainy-Bat have completed their rehabilitation and reached their ideal release weight of 30kg+.
They were loaded into the back of a 4x4 vehicle from the rehabilitation pool. It was such a beautiful early cold spring morning as we watched the seal pups being released back into the wild on the 16th of April 2025. We all wished them both good luck and waved with tears in our eyes.
Click here to see a selection of these and further photos of their release.
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