The seal pup is probably the same individual that was frolicking far from the sea, which the rescue service took to the beach in a car ride on Wednesday.
Not even a day had passed since Kemi’s previous cube rescue operation, when the rescue service was urgently called for the same tasks. On Thursday afternoon, Kuutti had landed in Kemi’s Sisasatama in front of a local restaurant.
Of course, it is not certain whether it is the same specimen that was returned to the sea on Wednesday.
– I realized that it is six. The kid looked passive, and I started to feel sorry for him. I called the rescue and directed them to this, the animal-loving Anchor times.
The rescue service told Ankkur that if Kuutti doesn’t wake up in a couple of days, it will be terminated.
However, at the suggestion of the rescue service, Ankkuri went to buy a packet of herring fillets for six. Kuutti started to eat the fillets carefully and finally it popped all the fillets into its mouth while curious seagulls and a crow watched the situation from a distance.
In addition to the birds, people from Kemi also came to see the seal. Those who came to marvel at Kuutti guessed the animal’s age and weight.
Kuut was suspected, among other things, to be a chick born in February, but left far too light, whose breastfeeding has stopped.
This year’s chick
– This individual looked hungry. Since there is no diving shirt under the skin, i.e. fat, it could have been cold and that is why it has come ashore, says Mervi Kunnasranta.
It has probably happened to Kemi’s six, as it has happened to its numerous fellow athletes when the ice melts. After reaching land, they start to wander and their sense of direction fails.
The nursing period of a gray seal is just under three weeks. According to Mervi Kunnasranta, after that it’s quite natural for the cubs to change and grow fur, wait a bit and go fishing themselves. When the ice fails, they fall into the water and rise to land when they are cold.
\”You shouldn’t feed six, and it’s best to just let it be\”
Seal researcher Mervi Kunnasranta states that you should not touch or move a seal that has come ashore if you do not have solid experience in handling seals.
– They are quite fast-moving and can bite. The teeth are not the cleanest, so you can get disgusting infections on your hands from a bite.
If, for example, Kuutti is on the beach and it does not disturb the general life, Kunnasranta’s advice is to just leave the animal alone. Disturbance can just make it go in the wrong direction, i.e. away from open water.
– It doesn’t make sense to give food either, usually they don’t even eat. If a sufficiently starved animal is taken to, for example, Korkeasaari, its feeding is started with a tube, says Mervi Kunnasranta.
Ranua is not a valid address
In Kunnasranta’s opinion, it is good to think about interfering with the survival of a wild animal if the animal is not directly suffering. If the seal is in really poor condition, the police can kill it under the Animal Protection Act.
– The gray seal is not endangered in any way and it is part of nature that the weak fall on the way to life. There are a lot of seals in the sea, and not all of them survive.
If the situation got to the point where the gray seal cub would have to be taken to somewhere for treatment, then Ranua Zoo would no longer be the right address. In the past, Ranua has taken care of, among other things, a cub of a gray seal, which for some reason had gotten lost in the yard of a private house, kilometers away from the sea.
The status is granted by the umbrella organization of European zoos and aquariums (EAZA) and it prevents, for example, taking injured wild birds to the zoo for treatment.
– For Kuuti, peace and quiet would be the most important thing now, so it must not be disturbed, Varanka emphasizes.