The first rescued puppies of the season make their way home, with GPS tracking – a SWE innovation.

The Cornish Seal Sanctuary is pleased to announce that it has released the first two rehabilitated seal pups of the season. After months of care and rehabilitation, Mary and Maggot were both returned to the wild, but this time with a special mission!

In a new milestone in the sanctuary's history, the pups were equipped with special GPS tracking equipment. This innovative step will provide valuable insights into the pups' movements and behaviors upon their return to the sea.

The study, the first of its kind in the south west of England, will see 15 gray seal pups fitted with the tags to study their behavior at sea.

The Cornish Seal Sanctuary works with Dr. Luis Huckstadt, lecturer at the University of Exeter, who is leading this exciting pilot study.

Luis comments;

“This project will provide the first data on marine habitat use and diving behavior of naive gray seal pups in a unique oceanographic region of SWE where gray seal population dynamics and ecology have been poorly studied to date.”

In collaboration with the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, this project provides an unprecedented opportunity to undertake public education and outreach activities, including educating the general public about the biology of gray seals, their natural history and the local seas, and highlighting the threats seals face natural environment, particularly man-made activities.

It is hoped that the tracking data will shed light on the changes that seal pups undergo over the course of their first year in terms of diving ability, (feeding) behavior and ecology. It will also provide insight into spread patterns and potential risks of interactions with areas at high risk of public disturbance.”

Anne van Domburg, senior animal keeper and research coordinator at the Sanctuary, comments:

“We are delighted to be working with UOE on this ground-breaking study at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary.

After caring for the puppies here at the Sanctuary for months during their rehabilitation, we are often left in the dark about what happens to the puppies when they are released back into the wild. We currently rely solely on sightings from our seal fin ID tags which, whilst providing us with valuable information, only provide information about individuals spotted on the SWE coast by Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust volunteers.

This GPS tracking will give us an amazing insight into our puppies' lives as they adjust to life in the wild. It would be very interesting for us to see whether they return to the area from which they were rescued and whether the location of the release has an impact on their dispersal pattern.”

Anne continues; “The GPS tags we use are attached to the seal pup’s fur between its shoulders using a thin layer of glue (only). This falls off when they go through their annual moult, which takes place between December and April each year.

The tags are hydrodynamically streamlined and not heavy, the antenna is also super flexible resulting in minimal impact on the seal.”

Protecting our local seal population

The reserve has a good understanding of which locations in Cornwall are important resting/colony sites for the local seal population, but this data will help determine which areas require special protection and whether there are conflicts with other stakeholders who use the sea.

Interestingly, as part of this project, Sanctuary veterinarians will also collect blood and fur samples from most of the pups undergoing rehabilitation to study the diet and general behavioral patterns of adult gray seals (their mothers). Because these tissues grew in the uterus, they reflect where the mother came from and what she ate!

Through stable isotope and genetic analyses, the study will provide a better idea of ​​the population genetics and foraging behavior of Cornwall's adult seal population. Most samples are non-invasive or part of routine veterinary examination when the seals are first admitted to the sanctuary.

Avoidable rescues

Each season between September and April, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary rescues around 70 seal pups from across the Cornish coast.

So far this season, the shelter has had a number of very young puppies hospitalized due to public unrest and separation from their mother. Unfortunately, this has left them underweight and malnourished.

Bethan Goodridge, animal care specialist, notes;

“Our recently released Maggot was rescued from Porthtowan on August 3rd when she was found on a very busy beach over the summer holidays aged just 48 hours old. Maggot was in good physical shape for her age at 14.9 kg, which shows that her mother did a great job providing her with nutrition early on. Because of this, she was unfortunately separated from her mother

Public unrest and unfortunately it would not have survived at such a young age without our intervention.

Our other released puppy, Mary, was rescued from Mother Ivys Bay on September 2nd at 4 weeks old, also due to public unrest, and was very small at only 12.6kg and malnourished.

We are saddened to learn that both puppies needed our help due to a disorder, which is a completely avoidable situation.”

This is how you help

The sanctuary encourages the public to follow DEFRA guidelines on social distancing and to visit the website for information on behavior around marine wildlife, particularly during seal pup season.

If a puppy is found alone on a public beach, you should not approach or touch him and make sure you keep the dog under control on a leash.

The Cornish Seal Sanctuary and BDMLR can be contacted for advice and support on 01326 221361 and 01825 765546 respectively.