Animal Diaries
This is your exclusive peek into RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre! Join us every two weeks, as we check up on our wild animal guests. Staff are with them every step of the way, helping them on their journey back into the wild.
27 Dec 2024
Merry Christmas, Next Gen readers!
We hope you had a wonderful day, and are having fun with all your new presents. Here’s our present to you – more seal news!
Nobbly Bobbly and Cornetto have graduated to our big outdoor pool. Mini Milk has also moved into a larger pool, but his own private one as he’s still recovering from seal pox. Callipo has been moved back into his warm cosy enclosure for a little while.
Some animals take longer to recover than others. It’s important we make sure our pups are really ready for the next stage, before making changes to their environment.
While Mini Milk and Callipo get better, Emma caught some festive footage of Nobbly Bobbly and Cornetto in the snow! Grab a cup of cocoa, sit back and enjoy.
Winter wonderland
Take a quiet moment to watch Cornetto and Nobbly Bobbly play in the snow! Our big outdoor pool lets our seals master their swimming skills before they’re released into the sea. Our young seals need to build muscle, for swimming in choppy waters and fat to keep them warm.
We move them to this pool when they’re ready to live with a group of other pups. Searching for fish in deep water, with other seals around, will help them get their fill of fish in the wild – so speedier seals don’t snatch their dinner from under their noses!
It’s also a great time to build social skills. As you can see from our video, Cornetto and Nobbly Bobbly love bumping noses.
Enjoy the video, have a Happy New Year, and we’ll see you in two weeks!
Making a splash
Strike a pose!
Nobbly Bobbly
This hungry seal wished for extra mackerel this year. That’s a fishy take on Christmas dinner!
Cornetto
Cornetto is spending the festive season playing, and bumping noses with her friend. Pass the mistletoe!
Mini Milk
Mini Milk is still recovering from seal pox, but still having fun in his outdoor pool. Get well soon!
Calippo
Calippo is feeling a little bit poorly, so he’s staying put under his cosy heat lamp until the New Year,
17 DEC 2024
Hi Next Gen readers!
Welcome back to Animal Diaries. Our four grey seal pups at RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre are mastering the art of eating solid fish, and are ready for the next step.
Strike a pose!
Nobbly Bobbly
Getting used to the chilly outdoors can be a shock to the system, but Nobbly Bobbly braving it like a champ.
Cornetto
Here’s Cornetto relaxing by the poolside. We love her confidence!
Mini Milk
Mini Milk knows how to strike a pose! Here he is ‘milking’ the moment.
Calippo
Little Calippo is camera-shy and likes to hide under his mat, but Emma managed to grab a sneaky snap.
Pup progress
Once they’ve worked out how to eat solid fish, we move the pups from their indoor cubicles to shallow outdoor pools. Moving them into deep cold water can be a shock to the system. It’s easier for seals to find fish in our shallow pools, and they can build up their swimming skills gradually. Some of our pups are paired with a companion, to help them learn social skills before they need to share fish with a larger group!
Watch these videos, and find out how they’re getting on:
Cornetto
Cornetto’s settled into her pool and has mastered the art of eating whole fish. Go girl!
Nobbly Bobbly
Watch Nobbly Bobbly’s first hop into his very own outdoor pool. Playing with that hose looks like fun!
Mini Milk
Paul, our wildlife supervisor, tells us all about Mini Milk’s move. He’s recovering from ‘seal pox’ – an illness that’s a bit like chicken pox. Get well soon!
Calippo
Shy Calippo is getting used to his new pad, so we’ve paired him with a new seal, Funny Feet, to help him gain confidence. He’s found a perfect spot under a mat, where he can munch his fish in peace!
Did you know?
Seals can sleep underwater? It’s Nobbly Bobbly’s favourite thing to do. Though seals are mammals and can’t breathe underwater, they can slow their heartbeat right down, which conserves air. They can snooze underwater for up to two hours!
29 Nov 2024
Settling in
Hi Next Gen readers! Welcome back to Animal diaries. Our four grey seal ups have settled into RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre and are growing fast.
“We only bring pups into captivity as a last resort, if they’re very thin or sickly,” says Wildlife Assistant Kirsten. “In the wild, grey seal pups practice hunting crabs in rock pools, building up their skills gradually. The unlucky pups who end up in centres have to learn in a shorter space of time. We do push them to make progress quickly, but only because a speedy release back into the wild increases their chance of growing into healthy adults.”
Seafood anyone?
Staff feed the pups on mackerel, as it helps them gain weight quickly. Before they graduate to small outdoor pools, they need to reach 20kg and learn the right way to eat mackerel!
Our pups must learn how to:
1. Eat a whole fish
2. Eat by themselves
3. Eat without making a mess (so bits of fish don’t get stuck in the centre’s pool filters!)
So, how are they getting on?
Pup progress
Nobbly Bobbly
Our biggest pup, Nobbly Bobbly, has almost cracked how to eat fish by himself. He’s swallowing mackerel whole, and isn’t as messy as the other pups, but still needs help from staff, who ‘post’ the fish down his throat.
Nobbly Bobbly loves nothing better than stretching out, and sleeping off those big meals.
Cornetto
In our last entry, we saw Cornetto chomping on whole fish, albeit very messily! She’s still tackling whole mackerel that the staff leave out for her, and though her table manners have definitely improved, she’s not quite swallowing them whole.
She loves to sit and wait by her cubicle door, excited for the fish that staff drop into her cubicle.
Mini Milk
Last time we checked in with Mini Milk, staff were dropping pieces of fish in his cubicle to tempt him. He’s now eating solid fish, but with a catch. He’ll only eat them once staff have cut their heads off!
This picky eater knows what he likes. He’s very social and is melting hearts with his brown eyes!
Calippo
After learning to eat scraps of fish, little Calippo has moved onto whole fish. He’s still quite a messy eater, and has as much food smeared all over his cubicle and his face than he has in his tummy!
He’s still very unsure about people, so we leave him in peace as he tucks into his meals.
Did you know?
If these pups keep up their healthy eating habits, they’re on track to gain around 2kg a day! When they reach their goal weight of 35-40kg, they’ll be big enough to release back into the the wild.
14 Nov 2024
New arrivals
Hi Next Gen readers! Welcome to Animal diaries. We’re currently at RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre in Somerset, where we welcomed four super sweet arrivals.
Meet grey seal pups Nobbly Bobbly, Cornetto, Mini Milk and Calippo!
Staff have been busy giving them health checks and getting them safely settled into cosy indoor cubicles. Each pup is starting their recovery journey in their very own indoor cubicle, with a paddling pool and heat lamp.
Staff keep a close eye on them at this stage, and lend a helping hand at mealtimes. All four pups are too young to tackle whole fish by themselves, but they're all learning fast.
Meet the pups
Nobbly Bobbly
Nobbly Bobbly is our biggest pup at 30.7kg and he’s grown-up enough to be hand-fed fish. We rescued him from a beach in Devon, after he was seperated from his mum in a storm. He has
a wound on his left hind flipper, which our staff are keeping clean.
Nobbly Bobbly's a sleepy boy, who loves an underwater snooze! That’s one way of getting cosy…
Cornetto
Cornetto is our only female pup at West Hatch Wildlife Centre. She was very thirsty and underweight when our rescuers found her. She’s had some fish soup and is already chewing on some solid bits of fish. She's quite a messy eater, and gets her food all over her face, as you can see from this picture!
Cornetto is a calm, curious pup. She's interested in staff and loves watching them come and go.
Mini Milk
Mini Milk was rescued by RSPCA Inspector Ellie, from a beach in Wales. He's underweight, weighing 15.7kg, and is being being fed with fish-soup. Staff have also left some pieces of fish in his cubicle to encourage him to eat by himself and to keep him interested.
Mini Milk is social pup who’s loving all the attention he’s getting from staff. He loves posing for a picture!
Calippo
We rescued little Calippo because he was so thin. He weighs 10kg – that’s 3kg less than a normal birth weight for a pup! He has an infected flipper, which our vet is treating with antibiotics. He’s had some fluids, and is warming up under a heat lamp.
Calippo likes his own space, and grumbles at us to stay away! We're letting him relax in peace.