By Gina Parker, Education and Outreach Intern
Mermaid at the beginning of her care at SR3.
Since the Rescue Center opened in 2021, SR3 has cared for over 150 harbor seals. Many of these animals were pups abandoned by their mothers before they could survive on their own, often due to human disturbance. Last summer, with the help of our local Stranding Network partner MaST Center Aquarium, SR3 rescued one such pup from the crowded Redondo Beach just hours after she was born. She was named Mermaid.
SR3 rescued Mermaid from busy Redondo Beach, where she was found just hours after birth without her mother.
When pups like Mermaid arrive at SR3, their time in rehabilitation can be described in three stages: tube feeding, fish school, and free feeding. In the first stage, SR3 mimics the milk they would receive from their mothers, creating a formula that consists of powdered milk substitute, water, and fish oil. Animal care staff want to ensure the seal pups stay as wild as possible and don’t get too accustomed to human interaction, so rather than bottle-feeding them, their formula is quickly fed to them through a tube passed through their mouth right into their stomach. They continue being fed like this four to five times a day until they are ready to move on to the next stage of development. In the wild, harbor seals nurse for 4-6 weeks before their mothers send them off to hunt for themselves.
Stage two is called fish school, where the curriculum is learning to eat whole fish. To understand more about this stage, we talked to one of SR3’s animal care staff, KC Scofield. KC explained that “fish school helps introduce our seals to what fish are.” The process is very personalized to each seal, which often starts with putting a fish in one of their daily swims to see how they react, and proceeding from there. Some seals figure it out very quickly, while others may need to be introduced to fish more slowly. “We try to meet our seals where they’re at and let them show us where they are in fish school initially,” said KC. “We will continue to transition one of their meals each day from formula to fish until they are fully feeding on fish.”
KC feeding Mermaid, first tube feeding her formula (upper photo) and then offering her a fish in shallow water several weeks later (lower photo).
This full-fish diet, which is the third and final stage, is called free feeding. In this stage, seal patients eat in a pool together to make sure they will be successful and ready to compete for fish in the wild when they are released. This is often where the seals will really start exercising the tools that help them hunt, such as controlling their buoyancy and using their eyes and whiskers to track. “Pinnipeds have whiskers called vibrissae,” explained KC, “and their vibrissae have an increased number of nerve endings in them. It’s essentially a sense of touch, so they can track the fish even at depths when there is no light.”
Mermaid hunting herring in her pool at SR3, with other seal patients in the background.
After these stages, when the patients have the skills and abilities they need to survive, animal care staff give them their release exam - a final medical exam that confirms they are healthy and can return to the ocean. SR3 rarely satellite tracks the seals, but their back flippers are tagged with a number so folks will be able to recognize them if they are spotted again in the wild.
If you spend time on the shores of the Pacific Northwest, and notice a malnourished, sick or injured seal, the best thing you can do is stay far away and call responders right away. Kindly remind others in the area to avoid the animal, and keep your pets on a leash. Mermaid got a second chance, learning to be an independent harbor seal at SR3, but it is always better to prevent their need for care in the first place, and keep moms and pups together in the wild.
Mermaid exploring the beach where she was released as she returned to the ocean, her permanent orange tag visible on her back flipper.