28 Seals were rescued from a dry dock at the V&A Waterfront by the incredible Two Oceans Aquarium team and have been released back to the ocean.
Cape Town, South Africa (11 December 2020) – 28 seals took advantage of a quiet, fish-filled dry dock that had been sitting full for a few weeks. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the memo about the dock being used and became trapped when the dry dock started to empty.
The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation was notified, and a rescue plan was put in place. It would be a big task for the team to take on, but they pushed through to save all 28 of the seals.
“Having seals trapped in these dry docks, as the water is pumped out, is not something new, and the Aquarium has assisted and rescued quite a few of these animals over the years. But having 20 or so in there, at the same time, was new for everyone involved.” – Renée Leeuwner
The rescue mission would also mean that the team would get the chance to study each of the seals.
“The plan of action was explained and amounted to each seal being caught in a special coned-net, measured, sexed, tagged, a weight estimate made, and a whisker being taken (for DNA purposes). Each seal would then be transferred to a large transport bag, which would be hoisted out of the dry dock by a crane, the use of which, as well as the operator’s time, was very generously donated by the amazing Johnson Crane Hire. Each seal was hoisted all the way onto the harbour wall where another team released the seal and sent it on its way, back into the open water of the harbour.”
There were two tiny seals rescued, quite a few medium-sized ones and a handful of rather large ones. The seals gave the team some excellent exercise. It took about 5 or 6 people to hold each seal so it could be measured and checked on.
“I am very pleased to know that we will be able to track these seals in years to come through the tags and gain valuable genetic information about various seal populations through the DNA collected.” – Dr Nathalie Viljoen (Head of Research – Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation)
It was finally time to release the seals, but they needed to be placed in a transport bag before being moved to the docks closest to the water. According to Renée, the seals really dislike being manhandled by their backends. They lashed out often, keeping their rescuers on their toes the entire time.
Once hoisted out of the dry dock, the seals were safely ushered towards the water where they got to dive towards their freedom. The dive from the dock down to the waters below was quite something, but this is a natural skill of the seal, and so they dived without hesitation.
“I call seals ‘water dogs’. They look cute and sweet with their googly eyes, but they can be quite dangerous. It was comforting being part of the rescue, but I also had to be extremely vigilant as they do bite and are wild animals. In the end, it was an amazing experience to be able to rescue these animals and see them swim free again.” – Shanet Rutgers (Penguin Keeper – Two Oceans Aquarium)
They rescued 13 seals on the first day, with the two small seal pups doing it together. The rest of the seals were left to snooze in the doc until the next day.
“We are always ready and prepared to assist any seals that find themselves trapped in the dry dock – 28 seals were a bit unexpected though! The best approach is to remove them with a minimum amount of stress to the animal and low danger to the rescuers. We believe they became entrapped in the dry dock after following a school of fish – there are very high numbers of fish in the harbour currently and the seals are making full use of this easy food source.” – Brett Glasby (Wildlife Management Programme Coordinator)
You can watch the rescue below. The Aquarium ended off their rescue tale by thanking the crane company and operator for being there to lend a helping hand on both rescue days.
“We cannot thank Johnson Crane Hire enough for their help with these rescues. Johnson Crane Hire has gone out of their way to assist us by making a crane and crane operator available whenever we have needed one. This mammoth rescue would have involved each individual seal being carried out of the dry dock, one at a time, if the crane was not available. It is incredibly heart-warming to know that people and companies want to help animals in need, and in this case, a crane was needed, and provided by a great company. Thank you!”
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