GSPCA a bit crowded with eight seals
ANOTHER seal pup has been rescued by the GSPCA, bringing the total number of seals in the charity’s care to eight – the most it has ever had at one time.
Female seal Henny was discovered near the lighthouse by Castle Cornet last Friday and was underweight.
Animal collection officer Geoff George said Henny was doing well, but the facilities used to look after the seals were now becoming a bit crowded.
‘This place was never designed to have quite this many, so it takes a lot of effort to look after all of them, especially with all the other animal units to deal with as well,’ he said.
About 20kg of mackerel and herring – costing about £2,000 – are needed every day in order to nourish the eight seals sufficiently. The healthiest seals eat two large meals a day, with the ones who have recently been rescued eating up to six smaller meals every four hours. Mr George said that most of the seals were able to eat without any support from staff, but three still needed to be hand-fed.
‘Ideally we want to get them up to a weight of about 40kg depending on their overall size. That’s the weight where we can start to think about releasing them,’ he said.
Mr George said that the seals were usually friendly with him and other staff members, as well as each other.
‘They’re pretty good with each other, although Hector, who is the boss of the group, can be a bit aggressive sometimes,’ he added.
Two of the seals that have been under the GSPCA’s care for over a year are due to be released next week. A third, Aurora, could also be released, depending on her progress over the next few days.
‘Releasing them is tricky because they never do what they’re told. They will quite often come back to us so we really have to encourage them to swim out,’ Mr George said.
