Murray was rescued on 2nd July 2013
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Species : Common Seal
Sex : Male
Age : 3 - 4 days old
Weight : 7.8kgs
Found : Silver Sands near Caravan Park, Arisaig
Reason for rescue : Abandoned by his mum
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Staff at the Scottish SEA LIFE Sanctuary received their first call of the common seal pup season. The initial call came in at 10.30am, and after a series of further phone calls, members of the animal care team headed out to the check on the pup at Silver Sands near the Caravan Park in Arisaig on the West Coast of Scotland. It was decided after assessing the pup that it should be taken back to the Sanctuary.
The pup is healthy but is suspected to have been abandoned by its Mother, the Sanctuary´s animal care team gave him fluids for the first 24 hours and then started him on "fish soup" every four hours, including through the night!
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Update: 11th July 2013 - The pup was on fluids for first 24 hours after rescue to rehydrate and now it´s on fish soup, every 4 hours day and night. There seem to be no problems at the moment, his body temperature is stable which is a good sign, it only tries to suckle its own belly, which is a normal instinct as the pup is at the state when it would be suckling from his mother.
It is still at a very vulnerable stage so constant monitoring is required.
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This seal pup has been named "Murray" in honour of Andy Murray´s Championship Tennis win at Wimbledon on 7th July 2013. Click here to read the press release.
Update: 28th August 2013 - We are very sorry to tell you that Murray, in spite of everyone´s best efforts, passed away. A post-mortem and subsequent histology report indicated that he was just too young when he came to the Sanctuary, and lacking the essential anti-bodies that can only be passed on via a mother´s milk, to give him a fighting chance of survival. Common seals are much more dependent on these anti-bodies than their cousins the grey seals.
The Sanctuary´s animal care team worked determinedly throughout the time he was in the hospital to provide Murray with regular feeds, giving him as much as his body could take without making him ill, and yet he simply failed to gain any weight. Their efforts, and the effects of a variety of medicines and vitamin supplements, unfortunately proved to no avail. As you can imagine, they were devastated when Murray slipped away.
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Help Us to Help Them.....Each pup can cost up to £1,000 to rehabilitate, if you would like to adopt a pup or make a donation towards a pup´s rehabilitation, please Click here for more details.
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