Doughnut-loving seal to be sent to Scotland ...to get a better diet
A WILD seal has had to go into ‘rehab’ in Scotland after becoming too friendly with beachgoers who fed her doughnuts, sandwiches and ice cream.
The RSPCA said that the young seal, nicknamed Spearmint, had become too ‘habituated’ to humans and now relied on food handouts in Plymouth.
Wildlife experts added that this could prove dangerous as it prevented her from learning to catch food in the wild.
Rescuers are now ‘rehabilitating’ Spearmint to make her wary of humans again – by minimising her contact with people and encouraging her to socialise with other seals instead. They then hope to release her back into the sea from a remote, unnamed part of Scotland.
Dan Jarvis, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, told the BBC: ‘Because she’s quite a young seal, this has potentially been life-changing for her behaviour. It’s made her quite habituated to approaching people and interacting with them...
‘We’ve heard of people trying to throw sandwiches, ice cream and doughnuts at her, which of course aren’t normal things she would eat. But it’s when people fed her fish [which she would otherwise learn to catch] that it did become a real problem.’
Spearmint was taken to an RSPCA centre in Taunton, Somerset, last week after she stopped eating and was seen with an infetion in one of her ears.
The charity, which is in charge of her rehabilitation, is now treating her with injections every day.
A spokesman for the RSPCA said they ‘are doing everything they can’ to release her as soon as possible.