Tag: rescue

Posted on

KP2 under study at University of California

Press Watch, UC Santa Cruz Press Release, March 18, 2010
Head trainer Beau Richter has Hō'ailona lie on a platform scale so researchers can weigh him. Photo by Terrie Williams.

A young Hawaiian monk seal that was removed from the wild last year for treatment and rehabilitation is providing researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a rare opportunity to study the physiology of this critically endangered species.

Ultimately, the information from these studies can be used to help monk seals in the wild, according to Terrie Williams, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, who is overseeing the research in coordination with the NOAA Fisheries Service’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program, the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, and other researchers.

“No one has ever had the opportunity to conduct these kinds of basic physiological studies with a tropical seal,” she said. “The monk seal population is in trouble, and we hope that these studies will help us to better understand their habitat requirements.”

Continue reading “KP2 under study at University of California”

Posted on

Nefeli by satellite

Three weeks after her release into the protected waters of the National Marine Park of Alonnisos, Northern Sporades, Greek NGO MOm has released information on the young monk seal’s movements and dives. Data recorded by the attached satellite transmitter indicates that the orphaned seal, rescued on the Ionian island of Kefalonia on 14 October 2009, has so far remained within the borders of the NMPANS, venturing from her release at the core zone island of Piperi as far as Gioura and Kyra Panaya. Nefeli’s maximum dive depth so far, reports MOm, has reached 100 meters. The organisation expects to continue monitoring Nefeli by satellite for 5 months, until the transmitter is shed naturally in her first moult.

Full size image

Posted on

‘Nefeli’ swims free

Nefeli is carried from the MOm rehabilitation centre to the launch that will carry her into the heart of the Marine Park (Courtesy MOm)

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.

Continue reading “‘Nefeli’ swims free”

Posted on

Released again, Badem heads for Greece

Badem on Rhodes

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.

Continue reading “Released again, Badem heads for Greece”

Posted on

Orphan ‘Nefeli’ to be released today

Press Watch, Kathimerini / Athens News Agency, January 30, 2010

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.

Story Link