Seal center Pieterburen has taken in the first common seal pup of this summer. The animal was found by bystanders.
The animal is called Crista.
People will encounter the puppy at Sint Jacobiparochie on Friday. They saw no mother nearby and thought it needed help. The Seal Center points out that it is forbidden to touch seals, except for trained seal guards.
The animal was transferred to Pieterburen
A seal mother can leave her pup alone for up to 8 hours without anything being wrong. Unfortunately, the pup was too disturbed to be returned to the area it came from. It was therefore decided to catch the animal.
In Pieterburen the puppy was named Crista. This name is derived from the scientific name for the hooded seal, the Cystophora cristata. A seal species that does not normally occur in the Netherlands, but which gave birth to a young on Vlieland in March this year. She was probably six days old at the most and born prematurely. That still makes her very weak and she is therefore closely monitored by the vets and intensively cared for. D
Puppy season in full swing
The first pup marks the start of the harbor seal’s birthing season. Many pups will be born in the near future and will receive milk from the mothers for about three to four weeks. All seal rescue centers and seal guards therefore continue to call for people to keep as much distance as possible from seals, so that mother and pup can get through this nursing period undisturbed.
Seal Agreement
Picking up and helping seals yourself is contrary to the policy laid down in the Seal Agreement in 2020. In this agreement, the focus is on observing wild seals before a decision is made whether shelter is needed. That is why there are trained seal guards who check the reported animals and pass on all necessary information to the seal rehabilitation center for which they are active. The center then decides whether to take a seal to the sanctuary. This way provides the greatest certainty that childcare was the right choice. When the public decides to intervene on its own, it becomes impossible for seal sanctuaries to pursue this policy.