A weeks-old seal pup is on its way to recovery after possibly being orphaned by a well-meaning citizen in Newfoundland and Labrador who thought it had been abandoned by its mother.
A spokesperson for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) said a man found the seal alone on the beach in the community of St. Vincent’s and brought it home, apparently thinking it looked hungry.
Jan Woodford said the DFO received several concerned phone calls about the pup and advised the man to return it to the beach in the hopes of reuniting it with its mother – but to no avail.
Woodford said it’s unclear whether the seal pup was orphaned when the man found it or if removing it from the beach inadvertently led to its abandonment.
The seal pup was transported to the Hope For Wildlife rehabilitation centre in Seaforth, N.S., where staff treated the severely dehydrated animal.
Nicole Payne says the pup, named ‘Glennic’ after two of its rescuers, is gaining weight and will hopefully be re-introduced into the wild in the next two to three months.
The rescue group is reminding people not to intervene if they believe an animal is sick or injured, but to contact agencies like DFO instead.
