180 portions of fishmeal a day
Lenie ’t Hart, vet Mostafa Shahi Ferdous and the team of seal carers hold their breath every time the phone rings. Not another report of a sick seal? In the last couple days six to eight sick seals have been brought to Pieterburen every day. Every animal deserves a chance; therefore, again and again, creative solutions have to be found to find more rehabilitation space. But all employees are worried about the alarming number of lungworm patients: Nearly 180 already, almost three times as many as last year, which then was already seen as the absolute depths in 38 years of seal rehabilitation.
The sick seals are terribly short of breath. Their lungs and windpipe are full of lungworms, against which their immune systems are not fighting hard enough. Lenie: “Imagine having a ball of spaghetti or noodles stuck in your windpipe: It feels as if you are breathing through a straw.”
The vet carried out an emergency measure on a seal that was in danger of choking: By making an incision in the throat, he opened the windpipe and removed a teacup full of slime and worms. The seal is still alive.
All rehabilitated seals need individual care at the onset. That means dozens of portions of fishmeal a day, weighing portions of herring for the basins in which the seals that can self-feed swim. It means work for many more people than the SRRC has available. Luckily, many volunteers (often from animal ambulances) have offered their help. But because feeding seals through a tube is an experienced job, the SRRC has appealed to colleague rehabilitation stations around the world for help. Thankfully, offers of help from them are also flooding in.
An added problem is that all animals that are brought in should really all be rehabilitated in isolation to prevent infection among them: We never know what a seal may be carrying. The SRRC’s twenty permanent quarantines were very quickly filled. After that, all spaces in the SRRC were approached creatively: All the shower areas in the quarantine halls accomodate at least two seals, the interns’ bathroom has been confiscated, the sun lounge behind Lenie’s office houses at least four seals, in the vet’s office seven rehabilitation spaces have been created and in each quarantine room there are at least three seals. Admin employees are becoming nervous whenever anyone from the Technical Services enters their office with a pondering look...
Of course rehabilitation on this scale is costing more money than was ever budgeted for this year. We need more fish and more medicines. Even though we can rely on the help of experienced volunteers from over the world, we must of course pay for their travel costs, their accommodation in Pieterburen and enough hearty Dutch food so they will be able to keep up the hard work for periods at a time. This is why we are appealing to you: You can also help these very ill seals, for instance, by becoming SRRC supporter. Click here to make that small first step.
One thing is certain: this sudden invasion of sick seals is neither due to the fact that there are more seals in the Wadden Sea, nor because the weaker animals of the species cannot help themselves. At the moment, it seems that around 50 percent of the common seals born this year are facing serious problems. Possibly overfishing may be playing a part (not enough fish for mother and/or pup), or is it due to the effects of climate change: Through a different food supply the (vulnerable) seal may have to deal with more lungworm larvae. It is known that lungworms enter the seal on a so-called “host”, but how that actually works is unclear. In short: There is much still to research, but to help the seals right now, the first step is this: Become a SRRC supporter! (Click here)
12-03-2009 Source: SRRC Lenie 't Hart
