Rescued seal pups released into sea off Cornwall

Dame Judi Dench, Owen Wilson and Jack Black were all rehabilitated by the Cornish Seal Sanctuary

Author: Simon McleanPublished 21st Nov 2023

Cornwall's first seal pups of the season have been released into the sea near Penzance.

The pups, named, Dame Judi Dench, Owen Wilson and Jack Black have been rehabilitated at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary.

They were released at Perranuthnoe Beach on Tuesday 21st November.

Elliot Badrick, a senior animal care specialist there, told is, "We rescue these seal pups from August time through to April time , so this was our first lot of the season.

"I think because it is such nice conditions, they're just like 'This is awesome, we're just going to hang out here', and they've stayed together the three of them."

You might recognise that the pups are all named after famous actors - that's the theme of the sanctuary's names for this year - but one of them has actually met her famous namesake.

Back in September, Dame Judi Dench visited the sanctuary near Helston with her family, on the same day one of the pups was taken in - to mark the occasion, the pup was named after her.

The charity says it's common at certain times of the year for seal pups to be seen on beaches, and we mustn't distrurb them as that can lead to them being abandoned.

Elliot told us that had happened to one of those that was released today, "A couple of them had public disturbance so that's why we rescued them earlier in the season - the pups are being born earlier in the year, so August time our beaches are still busy.

"We had Owen Wilson today, he was only one day old and he was rescued in St Ives, so obviously it was busy, we had to pick him up."

Anyone who does see a pup on the beach is advised to keep dogs on leads and children away, and not to approach or chase the seal back into the sea.

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