Seal pups find sanctuary at Christmas at Skegness Natureland

National World - Other Local Sites

Skegness Natureland has had an influx of grey seal pups - but with a new rescue van and keepers raising awareness of their work they are ready for a busy Christmas.

Transcript

00:00 [Groaning]

00:30 Daisy it's quite busy in the hospital isn't it?

00:33 It is, yeah we're absolutely full, every single pen is full with baby seals now.

00:38 Now it is a busy time of the year for you isn't it?

00:43 Yes it is, yeah so November, December, January is grey seal pupping season

00:50 so we often are busy at this time of year.

00:53 It does happen every so often that we do get absolutely full

00:57 and then it gets tricky with rescues for us.

01:01 Now you've got some good news regarding rescues, do you want to tell us about that?

01:06 Yes so we finally now got a new rescue van

01:11 so we just wanted to say a huge thank you to everybody who helped us reach that goal,

01:16 everybody who donated, everybody who shared our appeal as well.

01:20 It's down to you guys that we managed to get one so thank you very much.

01:26 Now you are still open aren't you and it is important that people still come and support you at this time of the year?

01:34 Yeah definitely, we run off donations but more importantly people's admission prices

01:40 so people coming to see us, we do drop our prices in the winter because it's a little bit cold

01:46 and a couple of things are closed, we've not got our alpacas on site

01:50 so we really do appreciate people coming to see us because that helps us to fund the rescue work.

01:56 And people can also see the good work that you do?

01:59 Yes, so you can come into the hospital and you can see all of the new rescues that we've had in the pens here

02:06 and get to see a little bit of what the hospital team do on your visit as well.

02:10 And they can also follow you on Facebook as well?

02:13 Yes so we've got Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, even TikTok as well

02:17 so if you'd like to see what we get up to behind the scenes, all the funny things that the seal pups do as well

02:23 but also the work that we do, we've got a few videos about that as well.

02:28 Emily there's a lot of excited seals in that pool now they've seen you coming.

02:35 You said it's the best job in the world?

02:38 It is!

02:41 It is, I don't think anybody else can say that they go to work and get to do this every day

02:46 and see all these beautiful faces, it keeps you happy.

02:49 Now you've been sending out an important message as well haven't you

02:53 to people if they come across a seal on the beach

02:56 because it is that time of the year when they do get washed up.

03:01 Yes, so it's one of the main things that we teach here

03:05 and I'll try and teach on my social media pages as well.

03:08 The most important thing to remember is if you find a seal on the beach

03:12 make sure you give them lots of space and stay at least 100 metres back.

03:16 If a mother sees you approaching her newborn baby

03:19 she might abandon that baby and leave it behind

03:21 which is where sanctuaries like ours need to step in

03:24 so make sure you keep good distance, keep dogs on leads and children away too

03:28 and don't trip for seals.

03:30 Now that message has gone a long way hasn't it?

03:36 To America in fact, were you surprised that you'd been featured on American TV?

03:43 I was, it was a big shock to see that my videos and our work

03:48 has reached an audience overseas but it was still very exciting

03:52 they do have lots of seals in America too so the same message applies

03:55 so it was good to share that message.

03:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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