Rescued harbor seal pups admitted to SeaLife Center

One of the six stranded harbor seal pups being treated at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward waits to dinner being offered by members of the center’s Wildlife Response Team. Photo courtesy of ASLC

Six harbor seal pups found stranded in the first half of June, all malnourished and dehydrated, are now being cared for by the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Program in Seward.

The most recently found, on June 15, was a male pup from Juneau. The first five pups, four females and one male, were all founded stranded in the Cook Inlet area.

None of the pups had significant injuries and all are now in recovery, receiving fluids and supplemental tube feedings, ASLC officials said.

Dr. Carrie Goertz, the center’s director of animal health, said that taking care of six young pups, who need to be tube fed, is a lot of work, especially with the center’s reduced staffing, but that it has been rewarding. Since interns and volunteers could not come to ASLC this summer because of COVID-19 restrictions, the core Wildlife Response Team is working long hours to care for the seal pups and an adult sea otter.

Staff from elsewhere in ASLC have been recruited and the center is coming up with more efficient ways to manage animal care, Goertz said.

The goal of the recovery program is to increase the weight of the pups, boost their immune systems and then teach them to fish before they can hopefully be released back to the area where they were found stranded.

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