Eight now-healthy seal pups were released back into the ocean on Thursday morning at Porteau Cove Provincial Park, in Howe Sound, by members of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.
The release marked the tail end of the busiest rescue season in the history of the centre, according to an aquarium spokesperson.
More than 200 seal pups, a fur seal, three sea lions and other animals were rescued and rehabilitated in 2017, the aquarium’s Deana Lancaster told The Chief.
Some of the rescued animals include:
- Princeton, the first seal pup of the season. He was rescued May 28 in Glendale Cove.
- Flores, an emaciated, northern fur seal pup was rescued on Jan. 21. He was the first fur seal to be rescued by the team in two decades as fur seals aren’t common to our waters. He was released back to the ocean on June 1.
- Senor Cinco, an adult California sea lion, was rescued from Spanish Banks beach on May 5. He had been shot twice in the face and is now blind.
- Bella Bella, a female Steller sea lion pup, was rescued from remote McInnes Island off British Columbia's central coast on June 1. She is still in care.
More than 18,000 volunteer hours went into caring for all these animals and the majority, about 80 per cent, of the animals admitted to the centre survived.
—Photos and video courtesy the Vancouver Aquarium
