Last Saturday was another Beautiful Day. Four seals, which were taken back to the Wadden Sea on the old lifeboat “Gebroeders Luden”, joyfully dove into the sea under the watchful eye of their ‘adoptive’ parents. However, the same day, four critically ill seals were also brought in to the SRRC.
Thanks to the voluntary crew of the “Gebroeders Luden” we were able to take the seals Roverandom, Robientje, Kwalletje and Ina to the Brakzandstergat near Schiermonnikoog. Thanks to the good care at the SRRC, they all weighed 40 kilos or more: this gave them enough fat reserves for their ‘adoptive parents’ to safely release them. It was a festive moment: these animals will most certainly be able to survive in the Wadden Sea.
Unfortunately, that same day, four seals were brought in that hadn’t been able to fend for themselves. They weighed less than 12 to 15 kilos, while they should have weighed at least 30 kilos. They came in critically ill from Vlieland, Terschelling, Schiermonnikoog and the North Sea coast near The Hague. They all had breathing difficulties, because their lungs had become damaged by parasites (lungworms). Because of pollution, the Wadden Sea seals’ immune systems no longer work very well. This stops their blood from building sufficient “specialised” white blood cells (leukocytes) against the parasites.
It is worrying that more and more young seals (born in the Wadden Sea this summer) are losing the battle against lungworms. In the previous week alone, eleven critically ill seals were brought in. Last year during the same period we had none. At the moment, we have 99 seals at the SRRC, over half are lungworm patients.
However, there is some good news: all these animals will recover and will be released in strong and healthy condition. Then, they will have specialised white blood cells, which makes the chance that they get lung worm again virtually zero. This week alone, we will be travelling to the Wadden Sea three times to bring twelve healthy seals back to their home in the sea.
We shall continue!10-11-2009 Source: SRRC Lenie 't Hart
