One of the largest seal releases from the Hunstanton SEA LIFE Sanctuary took place on Saturday 17th April 2004.

A mass of ten seals departed from the sanctuary to be released on sand banks throughout the wash. A total of 7 commons and 3 greys were taken out on Rigid Inflatable boats with the assistance of the British Divers Marine Life rescue. The release had to be completed in two sessions with the commons going first as two of the boats were stuck on the M11 after an accident had completely blocked the road. The three available boats took the 7 commons out to deeper water and awaited the arrival of the other two boats.

After the fourth and fifth boat arrived the journey continued out to the uncovered sandbanks.

A film crew from the BBC, filming for a new ´Wild On´ series, was positioned onto the chosen sandbank so that they could get shots of the boats arrival. All the seals were then released from the webbing stretchers and allowed to go on their way to continue their life in the wild.

The boats then returned back to the sanctuary where the greys were then loaded up and taken out to the boats. Once again the boats departed from Hunstanton to release more seals back into their natural habitat.

The sanctuary staff would like to thank BDMLR for their assistance and we look forward to many more happy releases in the future.