Subject: 'They' Know We Care !
Date: February 28, 2008
Dear All Cape Fur Seal Supporters,
It has always bothered me, that these large multi-million dollar
international organizations all campaign to Save Seals, but none
actually do, physically. To me if you claim you Save Seals and
raise millions for that purpose, then this is physically what you
should do. For this you need somesort of rescue facility. Whilst
campaigning, protesting, letter writing and photographing seals
being killed is all very well and great awareness, it still does
not actually save a single seals life. I have always wondered
why this is? Yes, physically rescuing a wild seal's life is
difficult and open to huge criticism, and of course it costs
thousands, but can you really seperate one from the other. I know I
cant. Perhaps the reason is that some seal supporters prefer to
donate small feel-me-good donations, and for their $25
donation, expect little more than a $25 service in return, less
admin costs, salaries and fund raising costs. Knowing this, these
international organizations change the concept of physically saving
a seal's life to campaigning to save its life, maybe. A far cheaper
alternative. Added together in their millions makes a nice sizeable
fund in the bank.
Seal Alert-SA on the otherhand is
tremendously proud of its seal supporters or partners as I prefer.
Although small in number, they are really concerned about the
seals and do what is required. As such we have together been able
to move mountains and save seals. In the true sense of the
word, thousands.
One such supporter or partner is Jose and
Marius, whose organization
www.actionagainstpoisoning.com/page154/page154.html
deals
with poisoning of animals, yet whenever the seals needed it, they
were always more than there to help financially and in othermeans.
I have longed looked for a special seal to name in their honour,
and this is how their story begins, and will unfold over the next
12 months ....
'They' Know We Care
!
To prove
why we need to rescue them, because 'They' Know We Care ! This
particular little endangered baby seal pup was no doubt born with
all his other siblings on a small awash rock seal colony off Hout
Bay, somewhere around 26th November and 15th December. He was lucky
his mom had not chosen to have him in Namibia, for he would surely
have not seen the age of his first year, either starving to death,
torn apart by jackals to being surrounded and clubbed to death. For
the past 75 days this pup sat obediently and waited the return of
his foraging mom and his rich milk. This small rock was his
sanctuary, his entire world, his country. But for days his mom did
not usually return. He waited and waited, and waited. Growing very,
very hungry.
He had two choices. He could wait and slowly starve to death or he
could attempt to locate his mom. Who unknown to him was likely
dead, shot by a greedy fisherman. Which way should he go, for there
was not another seal colony for at least 100km in either direction,
and inbetween which rock on this coastline should he search. From
his perspective. This is what he faced.
A world so vast and open that stretched for miles as far as his
little round eyes could see. An immense ocean of possibilities or
disappointments or death.
Yet, in all this immense vastness of so-called protected waters,
this little pup had one further option. He could go to a spot he
had never been been to, but had heard about. A place so small it
measured 6m by 6m. There he had been told, when all else fails,
when things are really looking grim. There are people who really,
really care. So he set off, braving white sharks that gobble you up
in one bite, cold seas, huge pounding waves and hope.
When he exactly arrived on the Seal
Alert-SA raft, I do not know. It might have been days or a few
hours. I have not swum out to the raft, these past few days, as I
was re-occupied with nursing his 5 other siblings, each from a
different seal colony, each with a similar story days into their
life. When rescuing baby seals, you normally have a window of
rescue to save their fluffy lives of just a month, the month within
birth. After that, it is seldom you will ever see a baby pup
needing rescue until the following year.
As I swam to the rafts and proceeded to
check them, I noticed by chance this little bundle of fur curled up
fast asleep. Immediately I could see this was a baby (non-fish
eating) pup who could only survive on suckling. If I frightened him
or he jumped into the water, this would surely cost him his life.
How he navigated this long cold swim, I will never know. So how do
I approach him. I re-entered the water, swam around to the front of
the raft where he lay to get a closer look. At that moment another
older pup, last year's rescue of pups fleeing Namibian sealers
approached this baby, and the baby responding, crying for some
milk. Snout to snout. Up from the water I stretched out my
hand, and this little baby pup, stared down on me in confusion. I
proceeded to rub his neck softly, and in a moment he started
calling after me as his long lost mom.
Before I could even think, how I would swim with
this wild baby pup, back to the pier, climb up and walk down to the
centre. He was up on all four flippers, and plunged straight into
my arms off the raft. Wild as a timid wild seal can be, this baby
pup, immediately knew something and that this alien creature (this
enemy) was this thing other seals had told him about, and he was
going for it.
On
the left of pics, JM
I
have named him JM (After Jose and Marius good seal partners), his
belly is now full, and he is exhausted and has slept constantly for
two days now, with the other 5 siblings, nudging him every so often
just to check if he is still alive and wanting him to recover soon
so that they can all play.
This is why we need to do seal rescue, and this
is why Seal Alert-SA has floating facilities. Campaigns and letter
writing are all very good, but we also need to be able to let these
seals speak and find us. What would have happened to JM, if no
facility existed?
Over the past decade, I have had many
affirmations of this 'seal talk'. Cows coming to give birth, shot
and coming to die in my arms, entangled seals and starving seals.
But, knowing these babies behaviour well, and how clueless they are
at this age. That the chances of him surviving this swim, let alone
head in a particular direction, is near to impossible, yet here he
is. He could have hauled out anywhere, on any rock, in any
direction. Even within the harbour itself, yet he found it, and
instead of fleeing in terror, jumped straight into my arms.
To all of you, thank you for making this work
possible, especially Jose and Marius.
For the Seals
Francois Hugo Seal Alert-SA
link to sealmancam