| INGEMAR - Arrived 14th June 2004 | |
| Ingemar is a very unusual seal to see here as she should not be found in U.K. waters. Hooded seals are native to the artic circle, particularly the coast of Greenland. The coat she currently has is her juvenile coat but it will change once she becomes a mature adult. Her adult coat will be mainly white with large black dots all over. |
| Ingemar was brought to the centre after being found in the far north of Scotland, having obviously gone off course. At her arrival weight she could not have survived the long journey home. Once she came to the centre she was quarantined, left to rest and given regular fish feeds.
She is now gaining weight steadily and is getting her strength back. Once she appears a little stronger she will be able to join the resident seals in our outdoor pools. Despite being a different species of seal Lorne and Gigha should get on fine with Ingemar. The adults are used to having visiting pups each year and will probably find Ingemar a little intriguing. Once she reaches 50 – 55kg she will be ready to return to the wild. We will take her as far north as we can before allowing her to swim away. | |
| Update 31st August 2004 | |
| Ingemar has now been in our outdoor pools for several weeks. She has thrived outside, eating very well and growing quickly. Unfortunately Lorne has not been very welcoming of our unusual visitor. We assume that his aggression is caused by the male hormones racing around his body during the mating season as his behavior is quite uncharacteristic. Whenever Ingemar ventures into the water Lorne chases her until she leaps back out. Luckily he spends quite a lot of time in the opposite pool to her which prevents this nastiness. | |
| Ingemar´s weight has been closely monitored over this time and she has now reached and exceeded the target release weight of 55kg. We are therefore planning to release her over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of September 2004. Ingemar´s journey will begin on Friday when the pools will be drained and she will be tagged and chipped. She will be loaded into a traveling cage and then into our van to make her journey north. |
| Update September 2004 | |
| Ten weeks after her arrival, she was the grand weight of 62kg, and she was released off the coast of Orkney on the 3rd of September 2004. British Diver Marine Life Rescue who had initially rescued her, assisted with their R.I.B, driving us as far north from the Thurso coast as they could justifiably go. Ingemar who had previously been computer chipped and flipper tagged was lowered over the edge of the boat in a sling, back into the open Atlantic Ocean. With huge fat reserves, and Jamie (Displays Supervisor) pointing in the direction of Iceland, Ingemar was sent on her way. Hopefully she will find the far north and have a very happy life in the wild where she belongs. |
| Update April 2005 | |
| When we release Ingemar the Hooded seal on the 3rd of September 2004 back into the North Atlantic over the side of the BDMLR´s boat we were pretty certain that was the last we would see of her… |
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Ingemar was washed up on a beach just north of New York where the Marine Animal Lifeline based in Portland, Maine rescued her. She had made a 3000 mile journey via Iceland, Greenland and forgetting to stop there she was carried by ocean currents south to the East Coast of America. She is 35.6kgs now, which is a good 25kgs lighter than when she left us. The American Rescue centre has taken blood samples that returned normal showing only signs of dehydration, and her demeanour is the same as at Oban (quiet and gentle), which is unusual for a Hooded Seal. There is no reason to suggest that she cannot be rehabilitated once again and be released back into the wild.
She was identified in America by her pink flipper tag that was applied here at Oban. The contact phone number is printed on the plastic tag and her ID number permitted her recognition. For more information look on the website www.strandings.org |
| Update 14th May 2004 | |
 | Ingemar has passed her exams and is ready for release, again! She has done quite well, recovered quickly from her respiratory infection and has gained all of her weight back (she's back to 60kg, from the 35kg she weighed when she arrived here). The Marine Animal Lifeline team plan to release Imgemar on Monday the 16th of May 2005. She will be wearing a flipper tag, yellow No. 46. The one she had on when she arrived had to be removed as the flipper was badly infected around it. |
| The Marine Animal Lifeline team do not usually use flipper tags, they use epoxy glue and a small flat round tag with their info on it which they attach to the fur on the top of the seal's head. Since Ingemar doesn't have much fur any longer, and since hooded seals will begin to molt soon anyway, they decided to re-use the hole from her previous tag. This way there's no chance for re-infection. The photo on the left was taken at the centre during her rehabilitation. | |
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