Seal stranded at Oslo Beach is recovering well

A Subantarctic fur seal rescued from Oslo Beach last week is recuperating at her new, temporary home, uShaka Sea World.

“It is not unexpected to be caring for stranded seals and penguins at this time of the year as they have generally been following the sardines and for one reason or another found themselves in trouble,” said Ann Kunz, PRO of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR).

The beautiful seal is estimated to be approximately five or six years old, making her a sub-adult.

Although she has not been officially named, some of her caregivers call her ‘Peaches’ because she is just so appealing.

Not all seals which strand on KZN beaches need to be admitted to uShaka Sea World for rehabilitation as some of them are in good health and merely need to rest before returning to their respective home grounds.

“Young ‘Peaches’ needed assistance as she was lethargic and markedly underweight. She has no visible injuries besides a small cut on her left flipper which will heal without surgery,” said Ann.

Monday, July 13 was a good day as she started eating the fish offered to her by her caregivers with gusto and is now on 1kg of fish a day.

She is fed pilchards, corvina and maasbanker and like most stranded seals prefers the corvina over the other two.

Staff are cautiously optimistic that she will make a full recovery and will be returned to the ocean to start her epic journey home which is somewhere in the southern parts of the Indian, Pacific or Atlantic Oceans.

uShaka Sea World also has two ‘local’ penguins in its care. Baroness Jennifer was admitted last Thursday evening after being found at Park Rynie.

Initially, she was in the care of Nigel Eady who is no stranger to animal rescues. ‘Baroness Jennifer’ was his third penguin rescue, and he also rescued a seal last year.

She was named after Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife?s conservation ecologist, Dr Jennifer Olbers, the officer responsible for attending to all strandings along the KZN coastline.

“She was in a poor condition when she arrived but is thankfully doing well. She has a painful bite on her left wing at the joint, a smaller bite on her right wing and also on her right foot. Her veterinary examination showed no broken bones which means that her recovery should be without complications,” said Ann.

“She is on antibiotics and pain medication which will assist in her recovery process. She needs to put on some weight because she weighs a mere 1.25kg which is not surprising after her ordeal at sea.

“Admiral Paul who preceded her arrival by a week, is eating so many sardines at each feed that he can hardly stand up after his dinner. We trust that very soon the Baroness will eat sardines with the same gusto as the Admiral does at each feed.”

He was accidentally caught by visiting fisherman Carl van der Merwe at the Margate pier.

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