Seal Sanctuary Ecomare

Seals have been cared for on Texel in since 1952. In the beginning, all of the captured animals were kept at the former Texels Museum. Returning them to the sea was irresponsible since seals were being actively hunted. However nowadays, the staff at Ecomare return some 20 to 30 seals yearly to the Wadden Sea.

The beginning of the seal sanctuary

In 1952 Mr. de Haan, the former director of the Texels Museum, and his wife Annie began taking in abandoned young seals (new-born pups which have lost their mothers) and sick seals which were found either on the beaches of Texel or elsewhere along the coast. Through trial and error, they eventually succeeded in keeping the seals alive and nursing them back to health. They were not returned to the sea due to the active seal hunt in those days.

The deteriorating seal stock in the 1950s made the work at the sanctuary very important. On the one hand, seals which would have surely died were being saved, and on the other hand, the public visiting the Texels Museum was being exposed to the problems in the Wadden Sea via these seals.

Caring, breeding and releasing

In the course of the years, the relationship towards the seals changed considerably. Hunting seals ended in the Netherlands and instead of housing all the seals at the Texels Museum, they were returned to the Wadden Sea as soon as they were healthy.

For the rather large group of seals which had been in captivity for so many years, the solution was not that easy. The average age in the group was around 25 years, which meant twice as old as their companions in the Wadden Sea. Some were blind or missing teeth and molars. These animals were so accustomed to their life in captivity that it would take a great effort to re-adjust to the wild. These animals now make up the permanent population at Ecomare.

In the meantime, the seals feel enough at home at the center to produce six to eight pups every year. When these young seals have learned to hunt themselves, they are released into the Wadden Sea.

Adoption of seals at Ecomare

The seal adoption program at Ecomare started in 1990. Whoever adopts a seal, receives a color photo of the seal and an information kit. The number of adoption parents was 7500 in 2007. For more information, see EcoMare's website.

The birth of a harbour seal

In 1994, Ecomare's photographer, Salko de Wolf, witnessed the birth of a harbour seal

A fellow-center in Groningen

In addition to the center on Texel, a second seal sanctuary, the crèche in Pieterburen, began in the early 1970s. The amount of stranded pups and sick seals was actually decreasing on Texel at that time, one reason being the number of seals in the western section of the Wadden Sea had diminished more than in the eastern section. The seal population in the western Wadden Sea slowly increased in the 1980s, whereby the rehabilitation function, along with the breeding function, became an important task for the center on Texel once again. In 1988, after the outbreak of the deadly epidemic virus, both crèches fulfilled an important role for the researchers searching for the causes of this disease.

In 2000, the crèche in Pieterburen began working together with a fellow center in the German town of Norden-Norddeich. When one of the centers is full then the other one helps by taking in the surplus seals. In 2006, Pieterburen had 55,259 donators. Because the center has become too small, it wants to find a new locations. Various towns in Friesland and Groningen are very interested in housing the sanctuary, seeing that the new sanctuary is expected to attract 20,000 visitors per year.

Lenie 't Hart started caring for animals internationally in 2006. She hopes to care for all animals hit by an oil slick in the entire world, using the organization Sea Alarm. She is asking the oil companies for sponsoring. In 2007, she went to Canada to see whether she could start a seal sanctuary on Prince Edward Island, where many seals are slaughtered every year.

Fellow centers (international)

There are two seal sanctuaries in Germany: in Norden-Norddeich and in Friedrichskoog. The sanctuary in Norden-Norddeich takes in between twenty and fifty marine mammals, including cetaceans, per year. In Denmark, the Fiskeri- og Süfartsmuseet in Esbjerg is equipped for taking care of seals, although it only does that for scientific studies. Stranded seals in Denmark are killed or sold to a zoo, since the Danish feel that man should not interfer in natural selection.

A seal sanctuary was started in 1998 in the Belgium town of Blankenberge, at the Sea Life Center.

The ambassadors of the Wadden Sea

At Ecomare, the seals fulfill an important role as ambassadors of the Wadden Sea. The story of the seals, told during feeding times and displayed in the exposition both inside and outside, is related to the causes of the problems in the Wadden Sea.

The future of seal rehabilitation in the Netherlands

Due to two virus epidemics in 1988 and 2002, the population has experienced some tremendous blows, however it seems to be able to recover well. Because animals that have been in contact with man can pick up sicknesses, there are many voices nowadays which are in favour of ending rehabilitation. In 2002, the final report of the Scientific Platform for Seals Wadden Sea was presented. This report, written by all the involved ministries, scientists, seal sanctuaries and nature conservationists, concluded that "in order to preserve the seal population, it is not necessary to remove, care for and return sick, weakened or deserted seals".

The directive written up the Ministry for Nature ('Guideline for caring for harbour and grey seals'), was accepted by all parties, with the exception of that in Pieterburen. Lenie 't Hart managed to convince the Parliament to reject the compromise, so that she can actively take seals from the flats. Peter Reijnders, seal expert from IMARES finds the new ruling very logical. The risk of releasing saved seals is that weakened specimen can spread new diseases. As far as IMARES and Ecomare is concerned, the seals should not be given any medicine anymore. 'All that doctoring is bad for the population in general', according to Han Lindeboom from IMARES. He feels that 't Hart performed excellent work in the 1960s, but has now lost track of reality.

This conclusion had already been drawn in Denmark where seals are no longer being rescued. However for Ecomare, there are still two reasons for continuing with the rescuing and caring of seals. From the point of view of pure animal protection is every animal that can be saved meaningful, all the more so since it appears that once returned to the sea, it survives well in the wild. However, what is even more important, through the caring of the seals many more people are reached when attempting to relate the problems. Using only some cute pictures do not work nearly as well. Every year, the story of the seal and the Wadden Sea is told to more than a quarter million visitors, and via its information, to thousands of others. In that way, Ecomare contributes a huge amount in combatting the causes of the problems in the Wadden Sea.

Weblinks

Seal Sanctuary Ecomare:
http://www.Ecomare.nl