National Seal Sanctuary A trip round Gweek 30/10/2008

zoogiraffe

Well-Known Member
After leaving the Entrance building you walk up hill along a tree lined path towards the Seal Rescue Hospital,you can go inside the Hospital and see videos of a seal rescue and see some of the recued Seal pups on the day of my visit they had 3 or 4 already in the Hospital.On leaving you go down hill towards a pool with strange tent like net over it this pool which houses a group of Common Seals,carrying on down the hill you arrive next at the Nursery Pools one of which has under water viewing for the Grey Seals kept in these pools,some of these animals live here the rest will be released in due course,at this point the path levels out you walk along to the next pool which for the time been houses Gweeks highlight that ben Sahara the Hooded Seal who is about 18 months old and the size of a large Grey Seal already he`s starting to make the pool look a bit small but they are desperately trying to raise funds to build him a much large pool on the bank behind the Grey Seal Nursery pools,carrying on from here the next pool contains 2 male South African Fur Seals that original came from Coombe Martin Wildlife Park in the pool next door is another pool of resident Grey Seals,you then come to Sealion Cove which houses a male Cailornian Sealion and a female Patagonian Sealion which you can view from above the water and under it,just a short walk from here is the Cornish Coast Experience which is covered by another tent like roof cover,in this exhibit are kept native fish and Inverts found just off the coast and in the local rock pools,if you are not careful here you can get a bit wet from the wave making machine that keeps making the water break over the rocks of the exhibit now if you head towards the nature trail you are will walk through some lovely wood land until you reach the Asian Short-clawed Otter enclosure which has a nice stream running through it.If you carry on round on this path you go uphill and eventually come out near the Seal Rescue Hospital having completed your trip round Gweek.Finaly any questions i will do my best to answer them and when i get round to it will post some photos as well.
 
Sounds a good collection, would you say the the pools were a good size for the animals or slightly too small?
 
I have been to the sanctuary twice before, and I'm certainly impressed by the animal's condition, giving many had been a lot worse before. Whilst the pools are not standard zoo size, they certainly seem content, and my favourites have to be Sea Lion Cove & Otter Creek (I was lucky in my visits to have seen the late Carus; RIP).
 
I have been to the sanctuary twice before, and I'm certainly impressed by the animal's condition, giving many had been a lot worse before. Whilst the pools are not standard zoo size, they certainly seem content, and my favourites have to be Sea Lion Cove & Otter Creek (I was lucky in my visits to have seen the late Carus; RIP).

is it worth a visit dalek?
 
I would say on the whole the pools are okay but they need to get the money to build a bigger pool for the Hooded Seal because hes going to double in size from what i saw on my visit,and was already making the pool he was i look a bit small,but is it worth a visit yes where else can you see all via 1 species of Seal or Sealion that is kept in the U.K.
 
I visited the place 10 years ago. It was an interesting place, but I cannot imagine (and judging by the description) it has changed much. To my mind the enclosures were a bit grotty and pretty small. Yes they had a varied collection of pinnipeds, but nothing you wouldn't see in better housing elsewhere. Would I go again? Not really. It certainly is not a showcase for pinniped keeping.

What was the long-term prognosis on the hooded? It should be released if that is possible, if not relocated to another collection that keeps hooded seals in Europe.
 
It was released, but ended up in the exact same place as where he was originally rescued (Spain). The descision was then taken that he was unable to be re-released.
 
What was the long-term prognosis on the hooded? It should be released if that is possible, if not relocated to another collection that keeps hooded seals in Europe.

The Hooded seal is not going to be released back into the wild again as he`s been rescued twice now off the Canary Islands,also is their any other collections with Hooded Seals in Europe?
 
The Hooded seal is not going to be released back into the wild again as he`s been rescued twice now off the Canary Islands,also is their any other collections with Hooded Seals in Europe?

Did they just release him off Cornwall??? If so god help us they are thick! Hooded seals are from the Arctic and would be fairly unlikely to reach the Canary Islands under normal steam, let alone the UK.

Not sure about other institutions in Europe; just a thought.
 
Did they just release him off Cornwall??? If so god help us they are thick! Hooded seals are from the Arctic and would be fairly unlikely to reach the Canary Islands under normal steam, let alone the UK.

Not sure about other institutions in Europe; just a thought.
This is taken from the latestguide book about the Hooded Seal.

Quote;Sahara is an Artic Hooded Seal who in 2006 was washed up malnourished in Morocco before been flown to the National Seal Sanctuary in April 2007.After months of rehabilition,Sahara was fitted with a satellite tag and taken to Scotland and released off the Orkney coast.Six weeks later Sahara was washed up in Spain and was re-rescued.It was decided that Sahara was not fit for release back into the wild and so we have given him a permanent home here at Gweek.He is the only Hooded Seal in the U.K.


Hope this answers your questions,as thats about all i know apart from they are trying to raise funds to build him a much bigger pool.
 
This is taken from the latestguide book about the Hooded Seal.

Quote;Sahara is an Artic Hooded Seal who in 2006 was washed up malnourished in Morocco before been flown to the National Seal Sanctuary in April 2007.After months of rehabilition,Sahara was fitted with a satellite tag and taken to Scotland and released off the Orkney coast.Six weeks later Sahara was washed up in Spain and was re-rescued.It was decided that Sahara was not fit for release back into the wild and so we have given him a permanent home here at Gweek.He is the only Hooded Seal in the U.K.


Hope this answers your questions,as thats about all i know apart from they are trying to raise funds to build him a much bigger pool.

I appreciate the fact that the seal was found well away from his natural range and then released from a location much closer, but the Orkneys are still not quite Arctic. I wonder if the decision to not re-release was based on difficulty rather than actual body condition. Unfortunately he will probably die never getting the chance to see another member of his own species...
 
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