Ula ('Jewel of the Sea') was found on July 5th by a neighbour, stranded on the shore at Killyleagh, just round the corner from Tara Seal Research. She was alone, tiny (only 7 kg - the normal birth weight is ~11kg) and exhausted. We kept her in an indoor dry bath that first evening - and close to midnight her sudden noisy breathing resulted in an emergency dash to the vet, who diagnosed pneumonia and gave her antibiotics. The next day she was well enough to go outside and swim in the paddling pool - although we had to keep rushing her indoors due to violent hail storms - with hail the size of small golf balls!
Ula in the bath on the day of her arrival
On the evening of July 7th we received another call about a stranded pup near to the pupping site we monitor regularly - way above the high tide mark, nestled in the grass beside the road opposite the house of the people who called us! Earendil ('Boy Lover from the Sea') was also tiny at 7kg, but was in better condition than Ula, and more recently born, judging by his umbilical stump.
Earendil in the grass beside the road near St John's Point, Dundrum bay
Since we didn't get Earendil home until late at night, we kept him inside overnight and didn't introduce him to Ula the next morning.
From top left - Ula still alone at 11am on July 8th; 'keeping a respectful distance' after Earendil (right) introduced (2pm); Ula (right) follows Earendil and they engage in mutual nose contact (4pm); Ula (right) climbs on to trampoline beside Earendil and starts to suckle on him.
From that moment on, the pups were inseparable. The yard was about 6m long with a mini trampoline at each end that the pups usually used to sleep on with a paddling pool at one end and a bath at the other. Both pool and path werealways kept topped up with clean water. As all our other pup pairs in the past have done, Ula and Earendil slept together and followed each other as they moved between the two ends of the yard and in and out of the water.Interestingly the pups not only follow each other closely, as a pup in the wild would do towards it mother, but the pup in front would usually check that the other pup is following and wait for it - this is similar to the behaviour of a mother towards her pup.
In the sequence below Ula is inviting Earendil to join her in the bath. The position of the trampoline allowed the pups, even when very small, to get in and out of the bath unaided. When the pups were small, we had to make sure the bath was full to make sure they could climb out unaided.
In the sequence below the pups couldn't wait for the bath to refill with clean water!
This year we wanted to develop a better feeding system that can be used by one person. Up to now we have used a feeding tube attached to a funnel, through which we pour the milk formula. The person feeding holds the pup's mouth and tube in one hand and pours the milk with the other. The feeding tube has be sufficiently stiff that it doesn't flop over, spilling the milk....the problem with just one person feeding is that the pups do not enjoy feeding with the stiff tube, and also, if the pup jerks its head at the wrong moment, the milk flies everywhere....This year a vet student from Lyons in France - Stella Villanueva - came to assist, and we asked her if she could think of a better feeding system that would work with just one person. Stella had the brilliant idea of using a food pouch. A pouch-import company called Daklapack UK very kindly donated a number of samples for us to try - which worked perfectly! We found we could attach a soft silicon tube to the pouch and gradually squeeze the milk from the 'Stella-pouch' without it sucking back. The pups started to enjoy their feeding with the soft tube - which they would swallow voluntarily - and one person could feed with no trouble and no spillage!
From left to right - Stella sitting beside Ula and Earendil; starting to feed Ula; feeding Ula; Earendil waiting for his turn as Ula's feed nearly finished
The pups grew well from their arrival to their departure. However, they both took just over two weeks to increase from their arrival weight of ~7kg to the average normal healthy birth weight of ~11kg. They then increased their weight at only a snail's pace for the next week, but from then onwards gained much more rapidly for the next three weeks to their release weight of just over 20kg.
On August 21st the pups were released together at a rocky-shore pupping site known as Minerstown in Dundrum Bay. This is a major pupping site, where we often release our rehabilitated pups. Earendil was found nearby this site, so it was probably, in fact, his birth site. In the July pupping season of 2014 we recorded 14 newborn pups with their mothers at Minerstown, so since we monitor this siyte regularly, we conisdered it to be an ideal release site for Ula and Earendil.
The pups were both marked with white paint on their backs - Ula with a U and Earendil with an E (although his E was probably too faint to be detected from a distance). the pups rode in the back of the car to Minerstown, where they were set down together at the water's edge on the outgoing tide close to the rocks where the local seals were hauled out. Ula and Earendil played together in close contact for the next two hours, following (with a little encouragement from us) the outgoing tide. The difficulty of spotting them among the rocks in the foreground of the last two photos below indicates how effectively camouflaged they are.
After the pups were released we came down to Minerstown as often as possible both to check on the number of pups coming to rest there and also hoping for a glimpse of Ula. At this post-weaning stage of development we expect pups to be spending most of their time in the water learning to forage, and we would worry if we found them hauled out every day. In the event, the first time we definitely saw Ula on September 12th and 13th
In the top photo (left) Ula was just leaving a rock as the tide receded (on Sept 12), and the next day she was clearly seen in the company of other small seals. We therefore felt she had integrated well with her peers and was probably following a similar pattern of exploring, foraging and resting as the other pups.
Left photo: Ula 4th from right; Right photo: Ula 2nd from right, head up, facing left
We also hope and assume that Earendil was similarly integrating. At the time of writing this last paragraph (December 16 2014) these rocks at Minerstown are still being well-used by pups and small juveniles. We think we spotted Ula on November 24th, but the paint-mark would by now be very faint, so it may have been wishful thinking!
We will, when time permits, be analysing the CCTV footage of Ula and Earendil while in rehabilitation and writing a report on their behaviour and activity budget. We are also currently analysing their urine for levels of cortisol, and that report will also be posted here when ready.