Hamburg
Father swan saves exhausted seal pup
The rescued seal pup in an enclosure in Hamburg’s swan quarters. photo
© Frank Bründel/dpa
A small baby seal was found in Hamburg. Experts should now look after it.
An exhausted baby seal was found at the jetty of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus in the Hamburg port area. Company employees discovered the animal and informed the swan father Olaf Nieß and his team, who are responsible for animal emergencies. They collected the young animal and first took it to the swan’s quarters. “The Robbe is very strong overall. She will need a few more days of observation,” said Nieß on Tuesday. She has a minor injury to her eye.
Gray seals are the largest predators that exist in Germany. “They are also clearly dangerous, that has to be said. You have to keep your distance from the animals – just like you do from other wild animals. Serious bite injuries are easily possible. But only in direct contact and if the animals feel threatened. “
After an initial examination, the animal was taken from the swan quarters to the seal station in Friedrichskoog on Tuesday morning. The parentless seal pup will now be medically examined, nursed and, if successful, released back into the wild.
It was only at the weekend that the first young gray seals of the current birthing season were released into the North Sea from the seal station in Schleswig-Holstein. The whelping and mating season for gray seals begins at the beginning of November and ends in January. The main birth season in Schleswig-Holstein is in December.