Tuesday 28 October 2008

8th September update: IFAW and Alan Knight visit BDMLR HSH

IFAW VISIT BDMLR HIGHLAND SEAL HOSPITAL

Alan Knight Director of BDMLR came to visit the hospital with Ian Robinson and Claire from International Fund For Animal Welfare to talk about the possibilities of helping with funding for the hospital. Ian is a vet who has a vast knowledge of seals as he previously ran East Winch for many years. Ian is now based in Boston USA for IFAW and deals with many different projects on a global scale. Claire is the press officer for IFAW’s London headquarters so enjoyed getting up close and personal with our pups in the nursery. They are both extremely busy people so we really appreciate them taking time out of their hectic schedules to visit the hospital.
It was great to chat to someone who understands the process of seal rehabilitation so well and has such a wealth of knowledge. Both Ian and Claire got a little hands on work with the pups, Claire hand fed one of the pups from outside the pen and Ian hopped in with the 2 smaller pups who were still being force fed. I think they both enjoyed the experience from the big smiles. It wasn’t all work as we did manage a trip on the North Coast Explorer, which was amazing. We saw lots of wonderful wildlife, around 50 harbour porpoise in Gill’s bay, a great variety of seabirds and hundreds of grey seals as we toured round the island of Stroma. It was such a pleasure seeing so many seals in their natural habitat. Thank you Alan for making my first trip on a powerboat such a memorable one I didn’t realise you could do hand brake turns on the water!
The entire visit was a great success, we all had fun and IFAW agreed to give us some funding. From all at BDMLR Highland Seal Hospital thank you Ian and Claire. Thank you Alan for your continued hard work and support of the hospital.
So from all the pups and humans at the BDMLR Highland Seal Hospital THANK YOU IFAW very much for all your help and continued support.

Take care Heather

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