This Is Guernsey

By Zoe Ash

Specs washed up at Grouville where he was initially left to see whether his mother would return – she did not. (Picture by Alan Gicquel, 0866564)

A NEWBORN seal was initially refused access to life-saving treatment in the UK – because it did not have a passport.

The young grey pup was washed up in Grouville Bay, Jersey, on Sunday and transferred to the GSPCA on Monday morning.

Charity director of operations Jayne Le Cras called Customs at East Midlands Airport to arrange for the pup’s transfer but was told it would be turned away because the Channel Islands were not part of the EU.

‘I said, “Sorry, there aren’t many seals swimming around with a passport under their flipper”.

‘In all the years I have been sending seals across to the UK I have never had such a problem,’ said Mrs Le Cras.

The pup was flown from Jersey by private plane as staff at the Animal Shelter here were better equipped to deal with the newborn.

Once the seal was in Guernsey, Mrs Le Cras offered to get any paperwork required but said that as East Midlands Customs had never dealt with such a delivery before, they did not know what to ask for.

‘They suggested two postal services. I don’t know if they thought I was going to send it through the post,’ said Mrs Le Cras.

The GSPCA sees, on average, one or two seals each winter. They are normally transferred to either RSPCA Norfolk or to the National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, Cornwall.

The pup finally left Guernsey yesterday morning, courtesy of the Specsavers private jet, and landed in Southampton at 7.15am.

Specs, named after the local company, was taken to RSPCA West Hatch, Somerset.

‘It’s been a total nightmare. At the end of the day the seal was in distress and we had to get more specialised help or he would have died,’ said Mrs Le Cras.

The pup, which weighed around 10 kilos and was two feet long, was less than a week old and still had its umbilical cord attached.

‘Seals are not particularly good mothers. If a washed-up pup was reported, we would monitor it first and see if the mother came back on the next rising tide to feed the baby.’

Article posted on 4th November, 2009 - 2.29pm