00:04We moved up to Scotland in 2018. There was no intention to open a seal
00:10hospital because we're supposed to have come up here to semi-retire but that
00:14hasn't happened. We actually started rescuing seals in 2018 and a lot of the
00:20seal pups that were picked up are really sick, really injured, but they were
00:24always relayed all the way down to Edinburgh. So we decided to build our
00:29own hospital. That's why we did it, but not intentionally. So we cover quite a
00:37large area from about Ullapool on the northwest coast, Isle of Lewis, Isle of
00:43Harris, all along the north coastline and all the way down the north east coast
00:48line as far as about Nain. You need a vehicle that's going to be able to do
00:53these distances and economical to run. So a hybrid is handy. So when a pup arrives at
01:01the hospital, it's first weighed, the temperature is taken, the lungs are
01:07listened to, heart is listened to. They go into the quarantine unit for about 10 to
01:1215 days until we're positive that, you know, they're not carrying any funny
01:17disease or bacteria or virus or something like that. Then they move into the ICU
01:23until they're about, you know, until they've put on a bit of weight and they're
01:26nice and, you know, a little bit more plump and healthy. Then they move out into
01:30the nursery where they have access to the big swimming pool and they can learn to
01:35socialise in groups, learn how to use their muscles swimming and diving and they
01:41hopefully learn to catch their own fish and eat their own fish.
01:45Seals are great because the commons are very friendly and calm and compliant, very
01:55easy to deal with. The greys are, I kind of compare them to pitbulls, they're really
02:02strong, robust, not so friendly, more aggressive type of seals and are not very
02:09compliant most of the time. But each and every seal has its own personality.
02:15You know, they're brilliant. They are very, very, very intelligent. They learn very
02:20quickly. But they're great because they each have their own personality and their
02:25own funny quirks and whatnot. So, yeah, they're good fun.
02:29It is great. It is great to see them go off into the sea again and be wild and free.
02:34In the
02:34beginning, when we first started, I used to get sad to see them go, you know, they were my
02:39babies. But now it's kind of changed and I just think, well, it's job done. They're healthy,
02:46they're fat, they're wild again, they're free. So, I'm happy more than sad, you know, now when I release the
02:53seals.
02:53The charity is run basically on donations from the public and any funding that we get. So,
02:59obviously, Nissan, you know, given this car, saves us a lot of money when it comes to fuel costs because
03:05it's a really efficient car to run. It's a lovely quiet car, so it's perfect for transporting the
03:11seals. You know, there's no noise. The e-power technology is great. It's very fuel efficient,
03:18very quiet. Yeah, it's a lovely car. It's, yeah, it's a dream to drive, really.
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