Minnow: An orphaned seal's story

Curtis Jones with Minnow the seal pup

Staff at Natureland Seal Sanctuary, Skegness are always busy in their Seal Hospital looking after orphaned harbour seal pups.

The first seal pup to be rescued in 2009 was only 2 days old before being orphaned and found underweight and dehydrated.

Called Minnow by staff at Natureland she has made a slow but full recovery.

Minnow has now been released back into the wild after months of care following a touch and go start in life.

In pictures: Minnow is released back into the wild

Natureland's director Richard Yeadon said about the first rescue of the year: "We received a call from RAF Wainfleet saying there was a tiny abandoned pup stranded on the bombing range. When we got there we found that the pup was very small, underweight and dehydrated. There was no sign of the mother being in the area so we rushed the pup back to Natureland."

Minnow the seal pup

Once there, the pup went straight into the Seal Hospital for intensive care. Hospital worker Curtis Jones explains: "We know the pup was born prematurely as it still had some of it's white coat which in harbour seals is normally moulted in the womb prior to birth. It's umbilical cord showed us that the seal was only 2 days old but at 17lb it was approximately 8lb lighter than it should have been."

Curtis continued: "We have been working very hard rehydrating the pup and introducing it to small regular feeds. She has got a very long way to go but she is responding well at this stage. Thanks to the quick action of the RAF this pup now stands a good chance of survival."

Abandoned seal pups - what to do if you find one

Richard Yeadon's advice to people finding seals on the beach is to not go too close, keep dogs on leads and well away and phone Natureland if they are at all concerned: "We will then come out and assess the situation and get the seal quickly back to the hospital if necessary."