The Monachus-Guardian — Headlines-News-Articles — 2008-2018
Dedicated to Monk Seals and their Threatened Habitats
Orphaned Mediterranean monk seal ‘Nefeli’ was released into the National Marine Park of Alonissos, Northern Sporades today, following a traditional parting ceremony held in the fishing village of Steni Vala.
Rescued as a week-old pup on the Ionian island of Kefalonia on 14 October 2009, the female seal then underwent three and a half months of treatment at the MOm rehabilitation centre in Steni Vala.
Recently released from her temporary confinement in a specially-constructed pen in Gökova Bay, Turkey, orphaned seal Badem wasted little time swimming off to Greece [see New cage built for Badem]. Her first known port of call was the eastern Aegean island of Rhodes, and the popular port of Lindos.
Greek NGO MOm was alerted to the seal’s presence on 21 January 2010 by the Hydrobiological Station of Rhodes. Observers reported the animal displaying a range of unusual behaviours, including resting on small fishing boats in the harbour, and allowing people to pet it.
Following contact and information exchange with their Turkish counterparts SAD-AFAG (which undertook the rescue and rehabilitation of the orphaned seal in association with the SRRC of Pieterburen, the Netherlands), MOm dispatched its own experienced rescue staff to Rhodes in order to assess the situation, liaise with local bodies, and formulate a range of possible actions to deal with the ‘problem’ seal.
A young Mediterranean monk seal called Nefeli takes a last look at the conservationists who found the orphan on a beach on the Ionian island of Cephalonia last October before her release [on Saturday 30 January 2010]. The seal, which was 10 days old when she was found, has been cared for by staff at the offices of the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal (MOm) on Alonissos in the Sporades group of islands.
A Mediterranean Monk Seal, one of the world’s most endangered and rare animal species, was spotted off Israel’s coast on Friday, in the first such sighting in recent decades.
The seal was seen by the coast of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, by fishermen, who then alerted Ramat Gan Safari official Shmulik Landau.
Landau attempted to aid the visibly exhausted seal upon his arrival, however the creature eventually slipped back into the water and disappeared.
Members of the Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center arrived at the scene and attempted to locate the distressed seal, but to no avail.
The last sightings of Mediterranean Monk Seals off Israel’s coast were fifty and sixty years ago, at which time neighboring Lebanon reported an estimated population of 10 to 20 of the critically endangered species in its waters. […]
Herzliya
Turkish daily Hürriyet has published a gallery of photos on Badem and her new temporary enclosure, funded by businessman Mustafa Koç.
The orphaned monk seal, whose interactions with swimmers and beachgoers have become a source of concern to conservationists, is due again for release. SAD-AFAG, the NGO caring for her, has expressed the hope that she will adapt to the wild, and show less interest in humans.
Badem, a Mediterranean seal that was found beached in Didim and had previously undergone many attempts at rehabilitation after being released into the wild in 2006 will now be kept in a special aquarium. The aquarium is in a bay in the popular resort town of Marmaris.
Businessman Mustafa Koç, Badem’s sponsor, had a special aquarium prepared for the seal that cost 75,000 Turkish Liras. In its new aquarium, Badem will get the chance to hunt live fish.
Zafer Kızılkaya, a member of the executive board of the Underwater Research Foundation, or URA, said the seal was very happy in its new aquarium and it would be released into the wild again soon, because it has grown into an adult and will need to mate. […]