Three months after the fishing net lodged in her neck pushed her to near-starvation, Maëlle the seal returned to the sea Tuesday, swimming into the cold waters off Cates Park/Whey-ah-Wichen.
Maëlle, named for gold-medal snowboarder Maëlle Ricker, was rescued in mid-December on Vancouver Island and taken to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.
“She was in pretty rough shape when she came in,” said Lindsaye Akhurst, manager of the rescue centre.
Maëlle was about half as heavy as she should’ve been, due to difficulty foraging for food, according to Akhurst.
After being dosed with painkillers and medicated with antibiotics to ward off infection, Maëlle was able to eat on her own and began nearly three months of recuperation.
“As she grew healthier and stronger she became a lot more feisty which is good. These are wild animals and we like to keep them that way,” Akhurst said.
With her Olympian namesake in attendance, Maëlle got the seal of approval to slide into the ocean Tuesday.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to help raise awareness about the importance of cleaning up our Canadian shorelines to help protect aquatic ecosystems and wild animals like Maëlle,” said West Vancouver native Maëlle Ricker.
The incident is a reminder to keep litter out of the ocean, according to Kate Le Souef, manager of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
“This seal pup is one of the few lucky ones — the trash humans leave behind often has fatal consequences for wildlife in all our waters,” Le Souef stated in a press release.
Information about the 2016 Shoreline Cleanup is available at ShorelineCleanup.ca.
