How baby seals are nurtured in northern Germany
Birthing season for seals in the tidelands of the northern German Wadden Sea is in full swing. Animals separated from their mothers are nursed at two seal sanctuaries — keeping animal caretakers for weeks.
Feeding time
Animal caretaker Ramona feeding pups at a seal sanctuary. The weakened baby seals are first fed a salmon emulsion via soft silicone tube as a breast milk substitute. Eight days after admission, they are given their first whole herring. Currently, most of the animals at the station eat around one-and-a-half kilograms (more than three pounds) of fish a day.
Button eye be alert
A baby seal holds a fish firmly in its mouth, it has to, because seagulls sometimes pounce on the popular snack. Animal caretakers nurse the young animals until they weigh at least 25 kilograms (51 pounds) and can be released back into the sea.
Roundly healthy
A fully sated seal bobs sleepily in the water basin of the Norddeich seal station. In Wadden Sea tidewaters, young seals are suckled and raised by their mothers for four to five weeks, explains animal caretaker Tim Fetting. They are not considered 'howlers' (orhans) until they are permanently separated from their mothers as a result of disturbance. "We have to replace the mother," says Fetting.
Group swim
They're cute but baby seals are a lot of work. In Norddeich, they are fed four times a day, examined and weighed, and their ponds are cleaned regularly. "We're really beginning to feel the season," says animal caretaker Tim Fetting.
How much for the fish?
Animal caretakers Ramona and Marie feeding pups at the seal station. Currently, more than 260 young seals are being cared for at stations in Norddeich, Lower Saxony; and Friedrichskoog, in Schleswig-Holstein. The main birthing period is from mid-June to mid-July.
Lots of visitors
Visitors to Friedrichskoog can see daily feeding sessions for both orphaned seals and grey seals living permanently at the station. The Friedrichskoog station was opened in 1985, Norddeich began breeding seals at its station in 1971.
Please do not touch!
They may be adorable but seals are not cuddly creatures — and protected seal breeding areas and habitats in the Wadden Sea National Park and World Heritage Site are generally off limits to visitors. People should keep as far away from seals as possible so as not to disturb them.