Stranded seal pup flown to Southampton

A seal pup rescued off the west coast of Jersey and required specialist care in the UK to ensure his survival and was flown by Blue Islands from Jersey to Southampton. Along with marine mammal medic, Clive Armstrong, the pup arrived safely in Southampton and made their way to RSPCA Mallydams Wood in East Sussex.

Having been separated from its mother, the pup (named Wilson after his rescuer) had been spotted twice on the Jersey coast and was eventually found by dog walkers who alerted the local British Divers Marine Life Rescue team.  BDMLR coordinator, Donna de Gruchy managed the rescue operation, aftercare and contacted Blue Islands to see if they could help.

Donna says

Wilson is a male grey seal pup that still has his full white lanugo coat and believed to be over a week old when rescued. He was a good weight of 17.5 kg which means he would have been fed by mum recently. Although he would still be dependent on mum and may have been separated from her in the recent strong winds and high tides, once a pup has been handled and has the scent of a human the likeliness of the mother returning for the pup are slim. There were no signs of her from the beach today or yesterday. Whilst the pup still has his full lanugo white coat, he shouldn't really be in the water without mum to aid him. They are not strong swimmers at this stage, and drowning is a possibility. We are always sad to take a seal pup out of their natural environment but unfortunately once they have been handled already the chances of survival without mum would be slim

Clive Armstrong traveled with the pup and talks of his experience.

Blue Island couldn't have been more helpful and made the whole experience as stress free as possible for myself and Wilson. Wilson delighted fellow passengers by being very vocal on his flight across to Southampton.

Donna would like to thank Blue Islands on behalf of British Divers Marine Life Rescue Jersey for their generosity and the wonderful staff from New Era Veterinary Hospital for making Wilson as comfortable as possible whilst arrangements were made for his travel and Clive for taking time out of his day to accompany Wilson safely to Southampton.

Wilson is now settling into RSPCA Mallydams where he will spend the next few months, learning to feed himself and gain enough weight before he can be released back into the wild.