10-23-2010Huge wave of Responses
Albino seal Shirley adopted
There have been a huge number of responses to our appeal to bid for our Albino seal and to come up with a name for her. It was really heartwarming. We now have a highest bidder, who has donated a fantastic sum for her. Read more
10-16-2010Rare albino seal at the SRRC
Appeal: Who will adopt and name him?
A sick albino seal was found on the beach in Vlieland yesterday. Thanks to the help of the islanders and our voluntary Seal First Aid team, the weakened animal was saved and brought to the SRRC, where, in the next couple of weeks it will be able to regain its strength. Read more
10-14-2010Seal from Dordrecht to be released on Saturday
Already 300 seals saved this year thanks to the SRRC
The seal that was caught in the Maas near Dordrecht by Department of Waterways’ employees at the beginning of August will be released on Saturday in Zeeland near Renesse. The young animal, which was named after its savior, Jan Koenen, has meanwhile recovered nicely. Jan Koenen will be the 300th seal to be released by the SRRC this year. Read more
09-30-2010“Seal brings in more than 300 million for the economy in the Wadden Sea area.”
However, the Seal can barely hold its head above water
A recent study has shown that the presence of seals yields a yearly total of 312 million for companies and the self-employed on the islands and in the bordering areas. Of course the SRRC is proud of what it has been able to do in 39 years of seal-rehabilitation. Our work has made the seal into the personification of the Wadden Sea. Read more
09-24-2010Edwin Evers gets up on the mudflats with Daan
Thursday September 23rd, the day had finally come: Seal Daan was being taken back to the Wadden Sea. Edwin Evers and his sidekicks Rick and Niels from Radio 538 personally came along to release “their” seal. When their programme “Edwin Evers staat op” (Edwin Evers gets up) was celebrating its 10-year anniversary a couple of months ago, the SRRC rewarded them a seal for adoption, because the programme often features seals and the SRRC. It was agreed that all three men would come along to release the seal. Read more
09-19-2010Hooded Seal Tim on his way home
Friday, September 17th, the young hooded seal, Tim, was flown to GDF Suez’s production platform F3-b by a CHC Helicopter. From the platform, the travel basket with the seal was lowered down to water level and opened so that Tim could start his journey back to the Arctic Ocean. Thanks to the great help of the CHC Helicopter’s crew and the F3-b, everything went like clockwork. Read more
09-12-2010Our new TV-clip’s world premiere
There was lots of publicity about Lenie meeting QUEEN’s Brian May, Roger Taylor and manager Jim Beach. Almost everybody now knows that this legendary pop group has again made their music available for free, for the SRRC to use in their new TV-clip. We have had so many curious reactions and requests to be able to see the clip that we are not going to wait until the official television release. This is why you can watch the TV-clip here now. We hope that it will pop up on your television screen at home soon. Enjoy watching it!
09-08-2010QUEEN supports seals
Friday, September 3rd was a very special day for Lenie ’t Hart. She had been invited to the premiere of the QUEEN musical “We Will Rock You”, in the Beatrix Theatre in Utrecht. Along with hundreds of other invitees she enjoyed the fantastic show in which John Vooijs, Marjolein Teepen, Pia Douwes, Floortje Smit, Charly Luske, Paul Donkers and Rutger Le Poole sang their hearts out. For all the guests the highlight of the evening was QUEEN-guitarist Brian May’s guest-performance, who made the final song Bohemian Rhapsody a resounding success.
However, there was an extra, very special, highlight for Lenie.
She will tell you about that in her own words: Read more
09-01-2010Hooded seal found near Rottum
A young hooded seal, born around March, has been found by a fisherman in the Ems.
Hooded seals are born in Northern Polar Regions.
The exhausted animal weighs 40 kilos and has already started eating without help. It will presumably be released next month. We hope to be able to do that in the same way as in the case of other vagrant visitors: Near production platform K3 in the North Sea. Read more
08-29-2010Season’s first baby seals released
On Friday 27th and Saturday 28th of August, a total of nine young seals were released back into the Dollard. They were young seals that had been found – with their umbilical cord still attached, so no more than four days old - at the beginning of June, along the Ems Dollard and the Wadden Sea coast of Groningen. As always it was a cheery event, with many adopters and finders present. Read more
08-17-2010Influx lungworm patients remain worrying
The SRRC carried out two flights over the Dutch Wadden Sea, to count the number of seals. The SRRC is happy to find that – despite climate change, disruption and increase of disease- the population of seals has been able to increase. A total of 5600 seals has been counted, most of which were common seals and a small part grey seals. Read more
08-09-2010Seal from Dordrecht saved
Today, a seal swimming in the Maas near Dordrecht was saved. Department of Waterways’ employees managed to catch the animal with a scoop net and called the SRRC. They immediately got in touch with the seal first-aid network and the animal was taken to Pieterburen in an animal ambulance. Read more
07-27-2010Henk Vonhoff was great
Over the years, Vonhoff has played an important role in the SRRC’s development. He was a great man in all respects, with a warm heart for the seals. He also understood my reason for doing this work, without attaching any ulterior motives or benefits. Read more
07-19-2010Visit the SRRC this summer!
This summer, we are focusing on the problems caused by litter in the sea. A newly built path to the mountain of nets at the far end of the SRRC terrain ensures that every visitor can get to the foot of the towering mountain. Along the path there is an exhibition of photos showing the problems caused by litter in the sea. Read more
07-08-2010Symbolically adopt the Dutch National Seal Team!
Out of respect for the achievements of the Dutch national football team during the world cup, the SRRC has named two seal pups after Arjen Robben and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. We are planning to name the next seal Wesley Sneijder. Read more
07-07-2010Arjen Robben has washed ashore in the Dollard without his mother
Seals celebrate the Orange festivities too
We have named the young seal that washed ashore yesterday, and was saved by two Germans, would you believe it, Arjen Robben. Robben washed onto the dyke in the Dollard and was crying for his mum. The Germans saw the young seal scratching about forlornly and immediately called the SRRC. Every day, 3 to 4 seals are brought in. Today, two are already on their way, one of which has been named Giovanni van Bronckhorst. The grey seal, which has been staying at the SRRC for some days now, has been christened Bert van Marwijk.
Four orange seals can be seen in the Dollard daily. Are they celebrating the Orange festivities with us? Read more
06-13-2010Help stop cruelty to animals
How can we stop that “scientists, who don’t love animals,” are allowed to carry out completely pointless experiments on seals?
Take this mother seal, for instance. She has a transmitter the size of a brick attached crookedly to the back of her neck and she has a baby. That transmitter was stuck on to her while she was pregnant.
Now, she is only ever half out of the water; she never really suns herself completely: If she tries to lie on her side or her back she feels that strange thing which scares her. Read more
06-06-2010First baby seal in Termunten
Dear People, Every day, from May until July, I walk along the dyke of the Eems and the Dollard. That is a distance of about 5 kilometers and every year a young seal is found there. Often, the fyke-net fishermen find them, but this morning I saw the baby seal lying in the mud. Read more
06-04-2010First seal baby saved by SRRC
What name shall Edwin Evers give this seal baby?
Today, the SRRC has taken in its first seal baby of the year. It is a male seal, a couple of days old, weighing only 9 kilos. This baby has been found on the beach on Ameland. Due to circumstances, the baby seal has lost its mother and without help would slowly die of starvation. Thanks to the help of volunteers, the seal baby was directly taken to the SRRC, where he was given his first portion of food. Of course, everyone is very welcome to come and see the fluffy seal for themselves. Lenie ‘t Hart has promised the adoption-right of the first seal to radio 538 DJ Edwin Evers, as a gift, during his jubilee broadcast. He may name the seal and is invited for the seal’s release, which is expected to take place in a couple of months. Read more
05-20-2010May break is a success
Luckily, the seals were not affected by the cold during the May break and were happily playing and swimming in the outdoor pools. This year again, many visitors found their way to the SRRC. The visitors centre was especially popular on Ascension Day! Everybody could see that the ample 30 animals were being lovingly cared for and rehabilitated. Most of the animals at the centre at the moment are almost heavy enough to be released. During the May break, we were able to return several seals back to their natural habitat! Read more
05-01-2010Make your own message bag
On Saturday, May 8th, at 12.30 PM, in Pancake restaurant Dubbel-Op in Lelystad, Lenie ’t Hart will be giving the starting signal for the first in a series of workshops on making bags from roaming fishnets that litter the sea. Read more
04-28-2010SRRC happy with Essent / RWE’s support
On Friday, April 16th, Lenie ’t Hart was given a check worth no less than 30.000 Euros for the SRRC in Pieterburen, by Dig Istha, Essent’s director of Corporate Affairs. Read more
04-27-2010SRRC ready for summer!
During the May break you are very welcome at the SRRC. Every day, you will be able to see how the seals, that came in weak and diseased in the last couple of months, are now being lovingly cared for. Read more
04-21-2010Minister Verburg lets down seals and thumbs his nose at the parliament
In December 2009, the parliament accepted a motion to assist the SRRC’s scientists financially with their research into the disproportionate number of seals with lungworms at the SRRC. The SRRC was inundated with seals. Minister Verburg is now thumbing his nose at the Dutch Lower Chamber and has made sure by means of trickery that the SRRC scientists are not allowed to carry out that research. Read more
04-20-2010Releasing seals is a hot item!
Luckily, more and more seals have become strong and healthy and are ready to be released again. Last week, we even released the 200th seal of the year. It is a singular thing for this to happen so early. The media, therefore, did not let this go unnoticed… Read more
04-07-2010Tanja, seal from Katwijk, moved to Terschelling
For a couple of weeks, she had been lying –first with another seal – on the beach near the Katwijk’ drainage canal. The seal was the centre of attention there. Every day, hundreds of people came to look at the seal. Some people would come as close as a metre distance. From the many pictures the SRRC received, which clearly showed a tag on its back flipper, we found out that the seal came from a fellow rehabilitation centre in Germany. Unfortunately, all the attention was not good for the seal, and the risk of a biting incident grew. Read more
03-26-2010‘NL does’ at the SRRC
Saturday, March 20th, the SRRC participated in the Netherlands’ largest volunteer campaign: NL does. An enthusiastic team from HanzeConnect in Groningen had volunteered to come and help get the SRRC ready for spring. It has been a long winter in which we had a constant stream of critically ill seals to care for. Naturally, there were lots of jobs that HanzeConnect could help us with! Read more
03-23-2010Plurkje returns to his mates
Last Saturday morning, Hessel Wiegman released the seal Plurkje that he had found at the Engelse Hoek sandbank. Plurkje came in as a lost baby seal, but when he had to learn how to feed himself, he refused to eat herring. The only thing he would settle for was live eels. He hated to be stuck in a basin by himself. Having reached 40 kilos, he fortunately was able to return to the place he was born. Read more
03-14-2010Returning home healthy
Saturday, March 13th, another four seals were released in the Dollard. Among them was Hayo, the 150th seal released since January 1st, 2010. Releasing seals is always a happy occasion, but this time it had a worrying edge to it. It seems that the numbers in seal rehab are rising to an all-time high this year. And that is not a good sign. Read more
02-14-2010Festive release on Ameland
HOLLUM – Children enjoying the release of little seals form the main picture on the cover of the book ‘Ameland in 2009.’ Roaring with laughter they wave the six seals farewell. The young animals were found on Terschelling and Vlieland and were weak and sick. They were mainly suffering from lungworm. They were looked after and grew stronger at the SRRC Lenie ’t Hart in Pieterburen. That was during the spring of 2009.Elise, Lars, Tatum, Timmy, Toby and Mookee were able to swim freely in the Wadden Sea again in May of 2009. Children from the two lower forms of the Kardinaal de Jong School in Nes and toddlers from the Hollum kindergarten were there to wave the seals goodbye.
02-08-2010National Postcode Lottery saves sick seals
When the need is greatest, help sometimes appears from an unexpected corner. That certainly happened last Thursday when Lenie ‘t Hart and fellow-director Daniella van Gennep heard at the Goed Geld Gala 2010 (Good Money Gala) that the National Postcode Lottery was awarding the SRRC the sum of one million Euros. They were so happy! With this fantastic sum the SRRC will be able to do so much more for the many dozens of seals that are still being found every day. Read more
01-29-2010Busy...
When so many people are working under pressure, it is very important to keep a good atmosphere. Luckily, there is a lot of laughter and we are, for instance, very pleased with the cartoons of Toon (a Dutch cartoonist). We love them. Thanks Toon!
01-02-2010Twelvefold New Year’s dive
On the second of January no less than twelve recovered seals were released. It was a race who would reach the cold water first. Lenie ‘t Hart is glad that there are recovered animals that can be brought back to sea. “The sick animals retreat from the sea,” she says. “That is awful to see. But the most beautiful moment is when they hurry back to that sea healthy and well.
In the New Year we will continue saving the seals and we will join forces to find out what unknown additional factor has caused this seal-disaster to happen.
We will keep fighting for the seals’ and the Wadden Sea’s future!
Thanks to all who support us in our work and I wish you all very happy 2010!”