Orphaned monk seal pup ‘Lazarus’, rescued during stormy weather off the Aegean island of Evia earlier this month, has died during rehabilitation, Greek NGO MOm has announced.
Despite intensive care at the organisation’s rehabilitation unit on Alonnisos, the pup did not respond to treatment. As has been the case with other exceptionally young monk seals brought into rehabilitation at the MOm unit, Lazarus (estimated to be around 10 days old when found) continued to lose weight despite regular, round-the-clock feedings.
Body temperature and glucose levels also remained unstable.
The pup, reports MOm, died on Monday 25 October, following a seizure. A necropsy will be performed in Athens in an effort to determine the precise cause of death.
MOm has appealed to the public to join efforts to save the critically-endangered Mediterranean monk seal, its survival threatened by habitat destruction, direct killing and overfishing.
Aloha, little Lazarus. May you find peace beyond the reach of a cruel world.