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Kipper Goes Back To Sea - The Rehabilitation of a Grey Seal. 1982 © Soundings: Journal
of the IMATA. Volume 7, Number 2. |
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| On the 29 January 1982 a young
gray seal Halichoerus grpus was found on a beach about two miles
away from the Welsh Mountain Zoo! Colwyn Bay, North Wales where I am employed
as the zoo's marine mammal trainer. I went to inspect the seal to see if
it required any help. The animal was a young pup about two months old and
very thin, however it did not appear to have an injury. As its condition
did appear poor, it was decided to take the pup to the zoo and rehabilitate
it with the hope to release it back to sea when it was back to its normal
weight and fully fit.
The seal was weak, so it did not protest being manhandled into a car for the trip back to the zoo. The animal who we called "Kipper" and a male, was placed in a small outside pen with a shelter and a small water tub. He showed an interest in fish straight away and stripped and ate flesh from hand held herring. This mode of feeding was continued during his stay, gradually taking larger chunks of fish as time went by until small whole fish could be taken in one go. As well as hand feeding, one or two whole herring were placed in the water tub and this was of help to "Kipper" to develop prey catching and manipulative behaviour. Unlike sealions, seals seem to like to rip their prey up before eating it using their claws on their front flippers while holding fish in their mouths. The seal's food intake took a steady rise from day one until day ten. The animal then began to level off at eight to nine pounds of herring a day, and remained constant for the rest of his stay with us. A daily vitamin supplement of 100mg B.1. plus two Mazuri fish eater tablets were given in the first feed of the day. Although we did not weigh "Kipper" during his time with us his weight gain was very noticeable. On the 17 March 1982 day 49 of "Kipper's" stay with us we decided time was right for him to return to sea. He was released on a quiet beach not far from where he was first found. After eating a few herring from my hand on the beach for the benefit of the press, he went off out to sea and has not been seen since.
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