Seal rescue centre
A Seal Stellendam is a seal rescue centre, where sick or injured seals are cared for. These are mainly young seal pups who have lost their mother and seals that are injured or ill. When the seals have regained their complete health and are able to survive in nature, they are released. Before it comes to that, the seals have to go through (or rather swim) a step-by-step process. Below you will find this process.
The 5 step process:
Seal in distress
Notifications about seals arrive via the emergency number. The EHBZ ensures that all marine mammals are collected and taken care of. Not all lonely seals on the beach need help. That is why they are first carefully observed before they are brought to the shelter. At A Seal we can only help seals.
Quarantine
After the seal arrives at A Seal, it will spend the first 21 days in an isolated space. This is to prevent the seal from spreading diseases. The veterinarian examines the animal and determines which treatment it needs to strengthen or heal.
Regain strength
After the quarantine, they move to a new residence, the conservatory. Here they get a change to continue building their strength and play together. Some seals can already eat fish without any assistance, but other seals need some help from us. A volunteer puts the fish into the mouth of the seal, until the seal can eat on his own.
Prepare for release
If the seal is strong enough, he can go to the outdoor baths. The focus is to return into nature. Here, whole fish are thrown into the water. This way, they learn to eat by themselves.
Release
All seals at A Seal are released as soon as they are cured and ready. To be strong enough to survive, they must at least weigh around 35 kilos. Usually the release takes place on the beach of Ouddorp or Renesse.
