Dear Stephen,
I knew about this last week as a lady that I work with mentioned how upset she was by what she saw. I was able to forward this message to her, she was delighted with the result as she thought it had been killed. The Brighton and Hove Seafront staff were excellent and even provided an inflatable boat to assist. One turned up on a quad bike and was on the seafront protecting the seal from the crowds. It all seemed under control until a man with a green van turned up. She watched the "rescue. He picked the seal pup up by its tail before swinging it so that it landed in the shade of the groyne. This resulted in the terrified animal escaping back into the sea. Most likely, it was later retrieved by a normal (non Sussex Wildlife Rescue) person and taken into Mallydams, probably exhausted and close to death. I asked her if the man with the van was a medic, she replied that, in her opinion he did not behave in a very medical and caring way. When you say joint rescue you probably mean that later a medic turned up for the second rescue. All the best, Richard. From: adastra-boun...@lists.sxbrc.org.uk [mailto:adastra-boun...@lists.sxbrc.org.uk] On Behalf Of Steve Sent: 10 August 2011 17:29 To: adastra@lists.sxbrc.org.uk Subject: [Adastra] Injured common seal pup, Hove Beach Sorry for the delay in posting this message A seal was beached on Hove Beach (East Sussex) on Sunday, July 31st. The seal turned out to be a common seal pup less than a month old with serious injuries to its face and head, including a bad gash beside the left eye. A joint rescue took place by the wildlife rescue ambulance and BDMLR medic. At 4:45pm, the pup was on the beach near Hove Lagoon, before the seal went back into the sea. The seal was relocated again later when it came back ashore and was taken to the RSPCA Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Mallydams Woods in Hastings were he is currently receiving care. The pup was reported as being repeatedly sighted from about 3:00pm at different areas along Hove Beach throughout the day until we picked him up at about 7:30pm. This is also interesting as there are no know seal breeding groups in Sussex, even the resident seals in Chichester (West Sussex) have not been recorded as breeding. It does make you wonder where the pup came from as it is so young. Even with currents etc, I can't imagine that it was born too far away. I wonder if there is a mother around somewhere. We have been recording a seal in the area for the last few weeks. Common seal mothers only feed their young for 4-6 weeks before they are weaned, leaving them to fend for themselves. This seal did look quite thin rather than the large fat reserves a pup should have when weaned. Maybe it became separated too early and been on its own for sometime! More information about Sussex Seals and other marine life can be seen on my weblog http://sussexmarinejottings.blogspot.com/ Stephen Savage Sussex County Recorder for Sea Mammals Sea Watch Foundation Regional Coordinator
