First Seal Release

Today is the day of the first seal release.  We have come a long way together over such a short period of time.  The veterinarian pulled out pictures of some of the first seals from when they initially arrived at the center and, what a difference!  Those adorable, fluffy white creatures cowering in bath tubs have grown up to be big, fat sausages living it up in the above-ground pools.  That time has been a learning and growing process for us all with a string of challenges and successes along the way.   

To start, there was the fear of gavage feeding, for the seals, gradually coming to understand that this is what fills their bellies with food, and for the interns trying to master this technique for the first time.  Before too long, we were bombarded by seals, who could not be fed quickly enough, in spite of all our attempts to organize and hustle.  The older pups soon learned to swallow and eagerly awaited feeding time, and eventually, got booted out of isolation to the outdoor nursery pools to make room for the newcomers.  Even still, there were not enough tubs for all, so they began to be paired up, with some enjoying the company of a buddy, while others seemed to resent sharing and, sometimes, lashed out at their roommate when not distracted and less stressed by swimming at bath time.  They were slowly introduced to fish as play toys in their baths and some did not seem terribly interested, while others mutilated the fish, and a few special individuals quickly taught themselves to swallow it whole.  The pools became increasingly chaotic as more seals graduated to the outdoors, even with the addition of a fourth pool about halfway through the season.   

Currently, there are seventeen seals in isolation, many of which are awaiting their turn to be moved outside, especially since they have already mastered hand-feeding fish.  Only seven more seals have arrived within the past few weeks, and things are slowing down, compared to the forty-something seals crammed into isolation less than two months ago, demanding much attention.  Every day, these pups move one step closer to freedom as they learn to feed in the water or feed themselves by diving after the fish tossed in the pools.  Just a couple of days ago, four pups were witnessed free-feeding and these suspicions were confirmed by their drastic weight gain over a matter of days.   

Now, after arriving at under twenty pounds, our first four seals, weighing in at around sixty pounds each, will be released today from the northeast of the island.  It is apparently a seal haven a short swim from here with lots of rock beds, less populated islands, and likely a wealth of food sources.  I wonder at how they will fair, how easily they will be accepted by established herds, how much of a shock to their systems the sea will be, especially as they hunt for their own food.  It is a day of mixed emotions with sadness at seeing our babies head out into the real world on their own and happiness that they made it to this point; that together, we successfully achieved the mission that we had set out to fulfill.

From Trauma to Release

In other news, the rescue season has begun to pick up here.  We are up to twelve premature seals, which can be quite a handful, as they tend to be very weak and can suddenly crash due to hypoglycemia.  Our first seal experienced this shortly after he arrived and several more times over the course of about three days, which required intravenous therapy through the blood vessels of the vertebrate of his spine.  It was quite impressive to watch the veterinarian quickly feel around a bit and poke the needle into exactly the right spot.  Unfortunately, due to the intravenous therapy and often being unconscious, meals had to be skipped, which also did not help his blood sugar level to improve.  The outcome was looking kind of grim, since the veterinarian had never seen a seal crash so many times and over such an extended period of time.  However, he has recovered quite well since then, and on sunny days, is being spoiled with his own private visits to one of the seal nursery pools, as the others are not stable enough to leave isolation at this time. 

It has been quite rewarding to attend the releases of our recovered patients.  Our efforts all seem to be worthwhile in those moments.  Before I arrived at the center, two little goslings (geese babies) came in, still fluffy with their down feathers and took up residence in a baby play pen.  One had a leg injury, I believe from either a dog or cat attack, yet he seemed to be in good spirits.  Later on, they got another buddy, who they took to quite quickly, as they would cuddled up close together with each other and the goslings in their little mirror.  Eventually, they graduated from their play pen to an outdoor enclosure behind the clinic, from which they would always try to follow out whoever was leaving with a stampede of little webbed feet and a chorus of chirps. 

In the bird department, once the leg wound on one injured gosling had healed, the swimming pool was filled for them to begin the waterproofing of their feathers.  Several days later, another group of three other goslings arrived, smaller than our current residents, and they had to be gradually introduced.  The first day that their play pen was moved into the outdoor enclosure, so that they could all see and become familiar with each other, the younger ones were extremely excited, frantically side stepping and pecking at the mesh screen.  It was as if their imaginary friends in their little mirror had suddenly manifested themselves into existence. 

Unfortunately, the older goslings did not take too well to these newcomers, as I discovered when I took the little ones out of their play pen later on to clean it and to see how initial interactions would go.  The older ones immediately took to nipping at and bullying the others, so I frantically switched out all of the soiled linens and moved the little ones back into their safe haven.  Apparently, this behavior is like a rite of passage, an establishment of the pecking order within the group, yet the new goslings were still a bit too fragile to withstand such treatment.  I do not believe that I was on shift the day that they were finally all joined together, and soon after that, they were moved to a larger enclosure in the woods with a luxurious in-ground swimming pool that circulates oxygen and keeps the water somewhat clean.  They were not sure what to make of this new environment and had to be ushered into the water.  They bonded well during the weeks that they spent there together. 

Soon enough, the day of release was at hand.  There are several people on the island, who volunteer their property for wildlife releases and the property that we went to on this particular day had been purchased by a couple to preserve the land as it is for the wildlife.  Their house sits right on the coast and on one side is a little inlet, where a gaggle of geese had been observed regularly in the evenings, so the hope was to integrate our six into this group.  Only two people went down to the beach with the carrier to physically release the goslings, and just like their move to the swimming pool in the woods, they had to be ushered down the beach into the salt water. 

It only took one of them to jump in for the others to follow suit.  The staff were hoping that the goslings would mingle with the family groups of mothers and babies that were slightly younger than themselves, but they instead met up first with some older geese and the establishment of pecking order began.  No one seemed to be seriously beaten on or injured, and they all settled down after a short time, as the newcomers had been accepted.  It became difficult to identify our goslings among the crowd, yet we kept watching from the windows of the garage, fascinated by this socialization process, and feeling satisfied with the payoff of our time and effort spent raising them, like proud parents.

Six Second Chances

Having been here nearly a month, only three animals have made it to release.  The others have sustained traumas and injuries too severe or were too young and weak to survive.  So, for a time, it seemed as if this was a place where animals come to die, instead of to get a second chance at life.  Yet, sometimes, the best that we can do is provide them an opportunity to die with dignity and minimal suffering, instead of in pain and alone out in the world. 

In spite of this tough reality, there are still second chances that come along, as six birds were released today!  A groups of starlings had arrived a few weeks ago as youngsters, who needed to be gavage fed, and I was able to watch them grow and develop, as they learned to fly, perch, and feed themselves.  After a time, they were deemed to be stable and self-sufficient enough to be moved to an enclosure outside in the woods.  That transition was quite a challenge, since they wanted nothing to do with being caught or being confined in small cardboard boxes for transport, from which a few quickly learned to escape.  I imagine that performing this same task to take them in the truck to a release site was even more difficult, since they had a larger area for evasion and had developed a greater aversion to humans. 

At the release site, I had just barely finished untaping the box when three starlings suddenly, anxiously burst out and flew off in all different directions into the evergreen woods.  One other starling was released and one stayed behind, as he is the sickly runt, experiencing slow feather development.  He can only fly well enough to hop from branch to branch and could just look on as the others flew high above chasing each other about the enclosure.  One day when I checked on them, he was perched on a low branch, looking tentatively, longingly up at his companions, and sporadically flapping his wings, as if preparing himself, as if this was the day that he would take to the sky.  I could feel the anticipation building and I encouraged him in my mind until finally, he began to let go of his perch in mid-flap, only to tip backwards onto the ground.  It was an awful disappointment.  I certainly hope that his condition improves, so that he can go off into the world to be a “real” bird.

A fledgling robin look quite different from an adult.  It is brown and white with brown spots along its breast, although the facial features are quite distinctive.  This fledgling spent even less time at the center, as he was nearly at the age to go off on his own.  He was released at a cemetery nearby the starlings’ release site, and similarly, flew from the box without hesitation into a nearby tree, where he remained perched, likely in shock over his new, unfamiliar surroundings.

The first release of the day was of a young raven that had arrived with a broken toenail, which eventually fell off.  He was quite tame, putting up little to no struggle on the mornings that he was to be weighed or when he had to be tube fed or medicated.  He even preferred to be hand fed, which would not do out in the wild.  Due to the loss of his toenail, he needed to relearn how to perch and reaccustom himself with flying and landing, which was a crash and burn attempt when we first moved him to the large raptor flight cage.  He soon figured this out and was quite ready to go when he was removed from the cat carrier and tossed into the air.  Like the robin, he seemed to be shocked at the change in scenery, and so remained perched high up in a conifer tree as we proceeded to release the starlings and make our way back to the trucks.