Hello.

I recently became a Volunteer Marine Medic with British Divers Marine Life Rescue. We are called out to seals, dolphins and other marine mammals that get into trouble along our lovely coast. Last year there were 1788 call outs across the UK, with 1658 of these being for seals. Northumberland has one of the largest breeding grey seal colonies, at this time of year it is the pupping season. It is a significantly difficult time for our resident young seals, high winter tides and stormy seas mean that un-weaned pups are often washed away from their mothers and cannot survive without intervention. If they are able to stay with their mother until they are weaned they are still very young and have to fend for themselves. Injured and sick seals are often found on our beaches, they can be treat at the site and re-located but are often also taken to the vet and/ or Tynemouth Seal Hospital for further treatment. Due to COVID there are significant issues obtaining and covering the cost of fish for feeding seals in the hospital. There are also limited spaces for rehabilitation. 

All volunteers have to purchase their own kit. I intend to use a small part of the funds raised to buy a seal bag so I can move injured and sick seals to safety on my rescues. The remainder of the money would be given to BDMLR North East for the Tynemouth Seal Hospital to be able to continue saving and protecting these beautiful creatures. Thanks in advance.