Maximizing flexibility….

As we’ve been designing our new marine animal hospital, we’ve tried to take into account the fact that stranding numbers vary greatly from year to year.  Although we have designed certain patient wards specifically for certain groups of animals, we also want to be able to house other animals in those pools as necessary.  To that end, each pool is being built with an individual filtration system so water is not shared between tanks.  And, each pool will be able to be heated or chilled, to accommodate the needs of different species.  Thus, the “sea turtle” pools will be able to accommodate seals and vice versa.

To maximize flexibility with the new sea turtle pools that will be the first to come on-line, we’ve also designed a haulout platform because seals don’t swim all the time and need to rest periodically.  We’ve also designed a jump net to prevent seals from getting out of the pools.  Many thanks to volunteer Wendy W. helping install these features!