The female seal pup that was found last week on the beach at Golden Gardens is recovering at PAWS, Sylvia Moss the Public Affairs Coordinator tells us.
Photo courtesy PAWS.
The pup, nicknamed “Sparky” by volunteers, was dehydrated and had wounds on her flippers and body when PAWS brought her in Saturday. Now, Moss tells us, the wounds are healing nicely and she’s responding to antibiotics. Because she has teeth, they suspect she’s about three weeks old and weened from her mother, Moss says.
PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitator, Nicki Rosenhagen explains, “We give them the stuffed animals in their tubs for comfort and enrichment.”
Since coming to PAWS, Sparky has been swimming and lounging around, Moss tells us. They are tube-feeding her at this point and hope to feed her fish by the end of the week.
Photo of Sparky courtesy Marilyn, a volunteer with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
Moss tells us that once rehabilitated, the plan is to release Sparky back into the wild near Golden Gardens. Since they don’t know exactly how old she is, “We mostly look at behavior,” Moss says. The factors they look for are whether she can catch fish, eat on her own, has all her teeth and is gaining weight.