March Update

Things are fairly quiet at the sanctuary at the moment. The late Grey season is coming to an end and the Common season has not started yet. We have 7 seals here at the moment; Benny, Calypso, Danny, Tommy, Velvet, Malibu and Ebony. Despite this we are still finding lots of things to do. We are really concentrating on our fundraising efforts at the moment. We have a lot of events coming up in the near future. We are having a table quiz in Kealy's of Cloghran on the 20th of March so everyone is welcome to attend. We also have collections in the pipeline which I will keep you informed of.

One of the best things about volunteering at the Irish Seal Sanctuary is when we have a seal release. It is brilliant to see the seals going back to their natural habitat. I am including a couple of photos of recent releases. Paddy and Sammy are now back in the wild.

Katie.

Brenda the badger

We had a great surprise waiting for us this morning. As we went about our daily duties of cleaning and feeding we discovered that Brenda our Badger had some company in her Sett. We presume they are babies but cannot be 100% sure as we don't want to disturb her too much. How exciting!!! If we have any badger experts out there please get in touch and maybe we can have a chat about this amazing new development.

Cheers,
Katie.

Result!

Good news...grey seals have been spared from literally a fate worse than death. To read more go to

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/grey_seals_spared_from_massacre_021209.html

It just goes to show...never give up!

Update

We have been so busy at the Sanctuary lately. We are still admitting seals nearly every day and there is no let up. We also have Brenda the badger to take care of and an oiled bird which requires constant care and monitoring. Tiny Tim and a few of her companions were released at the weekend which was brilliant to see-we wish them a long and healthy life in the wild!

We are organising some fundraising events in the very near future:

Sponsored swim in Howth on February 22nd and a table quiz on the 20th of March! Please contact us if you are interested in helping us or taking part!

The sponsored swim is in aid of Ebony. Ebony came to the Sanctuary a few months back. We assume he has neurological problems but we need further tests to confirm. As you can imagine this is an expensive process and we need all the help we can get. Jordan, one or our resident volunteers, came up with the idea of a sponsored swim to raise funds to help us pay for his treatment.

Check back soon for pics of Ebony as well as the process we go through to save an oiled bird!

KATIE.

Interesting Websites

If you would like to know more about seals and marine mammals in general check out the following websites:

www.irishsealsanctuary.ie
www.sealsanctuary.co.uk
www.thesealsanctuary.co.uk
www.marinemammalcenter.org

Enjoy!

Photos

The volunteers at the sanctuary have been taking brilliant photos so I think it only fair to share them with you! You can find loads more on our Facebook page. There are also links to the volunteer's pages where they have collections of photos from their time in Ireland.

One of the photos is of Lynn (our animal manager) and Sonny and the other is of Tiny Tim!

Facebook

The Irish Seal Sanctuary now has a Facebook page. Invite us as a friend and keep up to date with all the happenings at the Sanctuary. You can gain access to loads of photos and other cool stuff! So what are you waiting for?

National Marine Centre

Fingal County Council have not allotted the promised funds in this round of the budget for the development of the National Marine Center. However they have said that, as they are doing a rolling budget for this year, the money has not been completely lost. However we need the support of the public if we are going to get this Centre up and running. The Irish Seal Sanctuary are to submit a presentation to the councillors in the coming weeks to clarify our objectives.

We need the public, especially those in the Fingal area, to contact their local representatives and voice their concerns at the delay and possible cancellation of the development of the National Marine Centre.

People Power really does work so please get tying or scribbling and join us in our fight for the National Marine Centre.

Thanks guys,
Katie.

Bebo

Expand your Network... Check out our new Bebo page!

Some of our new residents

Usually things start to get quiet around this time of year for the volunteers at the Sanctuary. Not so this year. In fact we are operating at almost full capacity and have admitted 7 new seals in the last 10 days. They range in type from quite large and healthy (like Tiny Tim-top photo) to miniature (Lucky-bottom photo). Some still even have their white coats. We are not quite sure why there are so many little seals in need of our help at this time of year but we are more than happy to give them a helping hand in life. May I also extend our gratitude to members of the public who have brought these seals to our attention and taken time out to telephone us and to wait with the seals until we reach them. You restore our faith in humanity!

Katie.

FUNDRAISING

As you know the Irish Seal Sanctuary is in desperate need of funds to continue its work. We have lots of ways that YOU can help-

1. ***Coming Soon*** Adopt one of our baby seals

2. Set up a Standing Order and be a continual supporter of the Irish Seal Sanctuary:
Our bank details are as follows

Bank of Ireland,
Ashbourne,
Co. Meath,
Ireland
Sort Code: 90-31-89
Account No.: 70291982

(If your yearly donation equals or exceeds 250 euros you are eligible for tax relief!)

3. You can also become a member of the Irish Seal Sanctuary (see our web page for details)

There are dozens of ways YOU can help us raise funds. If you have an idea of your own please let us know!

Cheers!

Katie.

Sonny's Release

Happy New Year everybody!

Today was a big day for Sonny. Sonny came into us here at the Sanctuary about 2 and a half months ago and has had a really rough time. He had to have two operations on one of his flippers in order to remove infected bone. He was in dreadful form for weeks on end due to the pain he experienced.

However...he is now fit and well and was released this morning on the beach in Balbriggan. He couldn't wait to get out into the water and swam as fast as he could out to sea. A large crowd gathered for the event and there was much excitement as Sonny made his way out into the ocean, back to where he belongs. Good Luck for 2009 Sonny-stay safe!

A big thank you to everyone who came along this morning for the release and for showing their support to the Irish Seal Sanctuary.

I am attaching a couple of photos of the release for those of you who were unable to be there.

Best Wishes for 2009.

Katie.

ISS Table Quiz

As many of you know we held the ISS Christmas table quiz in Gormley's of Garristown last night. There was a great turnout and a great night was had by all. We really appreciate the support of all the people who turned up and took part. We also extend our appreication to Stena Line, Iarnrod Eireann, Dublin Zoo and Terry McCoy of the Red Bank in Skerries for donating the prizes. We don't have a final figure for our fundraising efforts as we still have to tot it all up but we think it will be pretty impressive. Thank you everybody and we hope to see you all soon at our other fundraising events!

Katie.

Bobby

Bobby is up in the big pool now and doing really well. Here is a picture of her beautiful little self when she first came in...

Today at the Sanctuary

Hi all!

Very busy at the Sanctuary today. We have 3 new seals in (2 Greys and 1 Common). We have named the two greys Bailey and Philipe and the Common Sydney. The two Greys are in good enough form, they just need to put on some weight. The little Common Sydney is very sick though. He has severe gashes to the face-around his eyes and nose. We're not sure what exactly caused these injuries but we are treating him and hope he will make a full recovery.

Sonny (had a digit amputated a little while ago) is as fiesty as ever and is trying to break his own record for biting handlers-3 so far! Dean's eye has cleared up. We actually renamed him Deana as he is in fact a her! Ebony is still very weak but getting there day be day.

There are 5 seals up in the big pools. Foggy who is almost completely blind is also up there. He loves his fish and chases the volunteers around the enclosure when we go to feed him.

We also have two new seagulls who have various minor injuries-we have put one of them in with our long-term resident seagulls and one is relaxing in a dark quiet place until he feels a bit better.

That's all for now as it's time for the 4 o'clock feed so I have to go.

Katie :-)

Photo

Hi,

I found this photo of Harry and thought the Summer '08 volunteers would like it as a keep sake seeing as poor little Harry didn't make it in the end. I'm sure everyone will agree that he was a pleasure to look after though. RIP Harry.

Katie

Lyndsey's Release

Please see Lynn's email below regarding Lyndsey's release:

 We are looking to releasing ' Lyndsey' the grey seal pup on  
 Wed, 3rd of December @3pm in Strandhill, Sligo. Lyndsey  was  
 rescued on the 9th of October by David Mullan and Barry Finan in  
 Sligo. She was a whitecoat when found and she had multiple wounds  
 and was quite underweight. She has made a great recovery and we  
 look forward to seeing her go home!!!
 
 Hope we'll see you there if you are in the area!

 Thanks
 Lynn

GOOD LUCK LYNN

Good Luck to Lynn who is up for the Volunteer of the Year Award tonight. We all know you deserve it and wish you the best of luck. Love; all of us at the ISS. Xx

Seal Release

Princess and Silver to be released-see Pauline's email below for details:

Princess Saltee and Carol Silver, two grey seal pups rescued and 
rehabilitated by the Irish Seal Sanctuary, will be returned to the 
wild, in full health on Saturday 29th November, St. Helen's Bay, Co 
Wexford at 2pm.

All are welcome to attend.

Princess Saltee, was rescued on the Saltees by local birdwatchers and 
ferrymen and brought by our local volunteer, Kevin McCormack to 
Dublin for care at the Irish Seal Sanctuary. She won the hearts of 
all the volunteers at the ISS, both international and local.

Carol, was named Silver by the volunteers due to her beautiful white 
coat, indicating her juvenile age, she had a sweet personality and 
was a pleasure for them to take care of, despite her emaciated state.

Both seals have made a great recovery and are fighting fit and ready 
to go back to the wild.


Pauline
Irish Seal Sanctuary.

KATIE :-)

Pub Quiz

TABLE QUIZ IN AID OF THE IRISH SEAL SANCTUARY

DATE: 19TH DECEMBER 2008

PLACE: GORMLEY'S GARRISTOWN

TIME: 8PM

INFO: PRIZES TO BE WON ON THE NIGHT!

CONTACT THE SANCTUARY FOR DETAILS!