Amazing story of rescued seal pups from Germany
Two seal pups which crossed the North Sea from Germany have been rescued by staff from Scarborough Sea Life Sanctuary within two weeks of each other.
Grey seal pup Matilda and common seal Augustus were both wearing numbered flipper tags which have helped staff unravel their amazing stories.
Matilda was tagged as part of a research programme on the island of Helligoland in December, and rescued from Scarborough’s North Bay earlier this year after a beach walker spotted her being buffeted against rocks in stormy weather,
Around the same time common seal pup Augustus (pictured) was rescued from South Bay, after hauling himself onto the beach amidst hundreds of people taking advantage of a sunny day during the half-term school holidays.
Only once before in its history has the sanctuary hosted a seal tagged in Germany – that one in 2013 – which makes the arrival of two in such quick succession all the more remarkable.
Details on Augustus’s tag enabled aquarist Amy McFarlane to discover that he had been rescued last summer by a facility at the mouth of the River Elbe in Friedrichskoog, Germany, in the district of Schleswig-Holstein.
Contacts at the German centre told Amy that he had been suffering from an infection where his umbilical chord had been.
They released him on October 3. Matilda and Augustus swam 376 and 335 miles respectively to reach Scarborough, where both are now making good progress.
Matilda should be fit enough to resume life in the wild within a month.
Augustus faces a longer recuperation, having contracted pneumonia, but is also responding well to treatment and is now on the mend.