Rescued seal pup now has youngster of her own
Staff at Scarborough Sea Life overjoyed at pup discovery
Heart-warming pictures of a grey seal and her fluffy whitecoated pup have provided the strongest vindication yet of the dedicated work of staff at Scarborough Sea Life Sanctuary.
Pictures taken by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust warden Lizzie Lemon revealed a telltale blue tag on one of mum’s rear flippers, and when enlarged the number ‘92’ could be clearly seen.
Delighted staff at Scarborough confirmed that mum is none other than Sandy, who was rescued from the shoreline in Redcar on December 6, 2010, when she was barely a month old.
Cleary in distress, she had fairly deep cuts to her flippers, smaller cuts to her right eye and face, and some nasty mouth abscesses.
She responded well to the ministrations of the Sanctuary’s devoted animal care team. However, led by supervisor Lyndsey Crawford Darwell, and by mid-February, 2011, Sandy was fit enough to return to the wild.
She was released at a seal colony at Donna Nook, Lincolnshire, and it was at that same colony that she and her pup – less than a week old – were spotted by Lizzie.
Ms Crawford Darwell said: “Although there’s evidence to suggest most of the pups we release go on to resume the normal lives of wild seals, this is the first categoric proof of one of our rescued pups going on to have a pupofherown.”