You can give a seal a fish, but they may not eat it.

It is finally that time of the season where our oh-so cute harbor seal pups have begun weaning off pup formula and fish gruel and started moving on to being assist fed whole fish then eating fish on their own! Because their mothers are not present, Basil, Rue, Sage, Juniper, and Sea Salt need a little encouragement and assistance when it comes to understanding that fish are a good thing to eat!

Over the last few weeks, the NMLC staff, interns, and volunteers have been spending a lot of time playing fish games with the pups to get them interested in eating herring. The staff has also been spending a lot of time assist feeding the seals to get them used to eating fish.

Juniper is our first weanling that started eating fish on her own. She is now extremely eager to receive her meals! Salt and Basil have also begun eating on their own. Salt’s fractured jaw and missing teeth have not limited him too much when it comes to eating herring which is a wonderful sign! Once all of the seals start eating by themselves, it will be a sure sign that they are getting closer to being released. It is great to know that they are progressing so well! We will miss them terribly when it becomes time for them to go but we are so excited to be able to send them back home!

Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for when we will be having our next releases! We love to see the public there, and hope you can join us!

Come by our discovery center between 10am and 5pm and watch what is going on in the hospital through our live webcams. You can also access them on our website at: https://ezidesignconcept.com/rehabilitation/web-cam/

Posted by Sammi C.
Sammi is a Summer, 2015 Intern at the National Marine Life Center. She is going into her sophomore year at Wheaton College, where she is majoring in Biology.