Seals are often good candidates for rehabilitation and release back into the wild – but they are also challenging to care for. Over time, a lot of similar “best practice” methods evolved out of the many seal centers around the world. See what is involved to give a seal second chance!
Steps of the Rescue & Rehab Process
Extra Insights:
When is a seal pup orphaned?
Not all seal pups found alone need rescuing – their mother may simply be out foraging, and their cries are a natural way to stay in contact.
A pup’s status is best determined by weighing it over time. If it gains weight, its mother has returned to nurse. But if it loses weight, it may be abandoned and require intervention.
Human interference can cause abandonment. Approaching or picking up a pup may scare the mother away or prevent her from locating it again by scent.
The best possible outcome for any seal pup is always remaining with its mother, ensuring the strongest start in life.
Good candidates for rescue and other differences around the world
Most true seals nurse their pups for only a short time – mere weeks, or even days in some species. After that, they are left to figure out foraging and survival entirely on their own.
Luckily, they are born with the curiosity and intelligence needed for early independence, as they don’t rely heavily on learning from their mothers.
This makes them good candidates for rehabilitation in rescue centers, where they can be raised without losing their natural survival instincts – just like any wild pup that must fend for itself.
Rescue policies vary by country and facility. Some seal centers – often regulated by national law – do not take in adult seals. Others only accept orphaned pups, excluding sick individuals. And in some places, seal rescue does not exist at all.
Eared seals, such as sea lions, follow a different pattern. They stay with their mothers for a much longer time and require extended rehabilitation if rescued.
Assessment
A reported seal is observed to determine if intervention is necessary.
- Members of the public contact a seal rescue center or stranding network after spotting a seal that may need help.
- A stranding technician, seal guard or marine mammal medic from the vicinity is dispatched to assess the situation.
- If direct intervention is needed, the next step – rescue and transport – begins immediately. If observation is required, the seal may be marked with color and weighed for monitoring.
- The seal’s condition is checked again within 24 hours or as needed. If it shows signs of deterioration or weight loss, rescue and transport follow.
Expert assessment is crucial. Seals are wild animals and easily stressed by human contact – if you see a seal in distress, call the professionals. Keep your distance, and never touch them!
Extra Insights:
Seals on a plane and other differences around the world
In large or remote rescue areas, helicopters or planes may be used to transport seals. However, in most cases, a truck or car is sufficient for the journey.
Not all countries have an extensive stranding network or trained technicians available to assess and transport seals quickly. In some regions, rescue centers may ask the person who found the seal to bring it in themselves – but always consult with experts first before taking action!
Bringing adult seals into rehabilitation
While care for adult seals is excluded by law in some places, others do take in injured, entangled, or sick adult seals. But they are a different kind of challenge.
First, their sheer size and weight makes them tricky to rescue and transport. Seals are often found in remote, rocky, under-cliff areas, and while it’s possible to carry out a pup, a full-sized seal might be impossible to transport.
Adult seals will also be more stressed when being handled by humans – and are much more capable of fighting back, causing even more stress. Even for an injured animal, the better outcome might still be a treatment on the spot and immediate release, instead of suffering transport and prolonged exposure to human handling.
In cases when an adult seal will benefit from rehabilitation time (for example for severe entanglement wounds), there are some centers that can care for adult seals.
Transport
If a seal is truly in distress, trained rescuers carefully capture it and transport it to a rehabilitation center.
- The actual rescuing can be tricky: if the seal is in a difficult location (on slippery rocks, too close to the water) it may be hard to reach or could escape into the sea, where it can’t receive help. If the seal is part of a colony, an attempted rescue risks triggering a panic, causing the entire group to stampede into the water.
- Some treatments can be administered on the spot. A severely dehydrated seal may receive water right away, and minor injuries – such as surface wounds from entanglement – can sometimes be treated on-site, allowing the seal to be released immediately if no lasting damage remains.
- If the seal requires further care, it is transported to the nearest rescue center or rehabilitation station. Short transport distances are crucial, as travel is highly stressful for the animal. Fragile seals, especially those in critical condition, may not survive the journey. Sometimes, seals are temporarily placed with close-by wildlife rescuers until they are stable enough to transport.
Extra Insights:
The problem of seal surgery
Some seals require surgery to have a good chance of surviving in the wild. Common reasons include:
- Flipper injuries: fractures or infections that impair movement
- Eye problems: infections or other conditions affecting vision
- Dental issues: damaged teeth or gum infections that make eating difficult
While seals generally heal well, surgery itself carries significant risks. Their diving reflex – an adaptation for underwater survival – interferes with anesthesia in multiple ways, affecting breathing, heart rate, and blood flow. Additionally, their thick layer of subcutaneous fat makes administering anesthesia more challenging.
Because of these complications, seal mortality rates under anesthesia are higher than in many other animals. As a result, surgery is considered a last resort, only performed when all other treatment options have failed.
Caring without bonding
Seals are wild animals and can become stressed by human handling. However, seal pups – especially those receiving intensive care – may also grow accustomed to their caregivers.
This poses a serious risk to their successful release back into the wild. To prevent bonding, rescue centers use several methods, including:
Minimizing direct contact and exposure times
Avoiding any vocal interaction – caregivers never talk to the seals
Feeding them in a way that prevents them from seeing humans
Other strategies designed to reinforce their natural instincts
Additionally, during hands-on tasks like feeding and cleaning, caregivers wear PPE (personal protective equipment). This helps prevent the spread of pathogens between seals, from humans to seals, and vice versa.
Cuddles with plushies and other differences around the world
Seal pups naturally bond with their mothers and stay close to them. Separation is stressful, and having a larger seal nearby – real or artificial – can help calm them.
Some rescue centers provide comfort substitutes to reduce stress, including:
Towels, hot-water bottles, or wetsuits for warmth and security
Seal plushies for cuddling
Socialization with other pups for companionship
Approaches to human interaction also vary. While many centers strictly limit contact to prevent bonding, some allow controlled human interaction under specific circumstances. In regions where coastlines are less crowded, the benefits of occasional human contact may outweigh the risks of a seal becoming too trusting.
Intensive Care
Once rescued, the seal undergoes a thorough health check and is placed in isolation to prevent disease spread. In intensive care, it receives the necessary medical treatments.
- Beyond assessing visible injuries, veterinarians check for parasites, conduct blood tests, and may perform X-rays to determine the best course of treatment.
- The seal is placed in a quarantine/intensive care unit, where it is closely observed. During this stage, it may have limited or no access to water to ensure adequate rest and recovery.
- Once stabilized, the seal may undergo surgery (see Extra Insights). Afterward, it continues its recovery in intensive care.
- Seals in intensive care require multiple feedings and cleanings each day to support their recovery.
Feeding:
- Pups: Since newborns can’t digest whole fish yet, they are tube-fed a specialized fish porridge – sometimes called fish smoothies or fish soup. This blend includes fish, vitamins, electrolytes, and fish oil, with medications mixed in if needed. They also receive water for extra hydration. Sometimes seal pups (especially eared seal pups) are bottle-fed instead of tube-fed.
- Older pups or juveniles: These seals are introduced to whole fish through assisted feeding or force-feeding, depending on their condition and ability to eat on their own.
Extra Insights:
Fish school and feeding
Seals don’t instinctively know how to eat fish – they must learn how to handle and swallow them properly. Since fish are large and swallowed whole, seals need to grab them at the right angle and recognize them as food.
Fish school progresses in stages:
Force-feeding: In the intensive care phase, seals are repeatedly encouraged to take fish. If they refuse, caretakers gently but firmly place the fish in their mouths and hold them shut until they swallow. While stressful, this step is necessary to ensure they receive proper nutrition.
Assisted feeding: Caretakers position the fish and guide the seal’s chin to help them learn how to take and swallow it.
Hand-feeding: As seals improve, they are given fish directly but must grab and eat it themselves.
Independent feeding: A seal officially graduates from fish school once it eats on its own, primarily retrieving fish from the bottom of the water.
Although it might seem beneficial to introduce live fish for a more natural learning experience, this practice is prohibited in most countries due to animal welfare laws.
Different species and different needs
Seal species vary widely in their feeding habits, rehabilitation time, and stress tolerance, meaning their care must be adapted accordingly.
Seals that live in ice-covered or open-water environments tend to be more skittish and sensitive to human presence, while species accustomed to coastal areas with human activity may be less reactive.
Eared seals (like sea lions and fur seals) are more social than true seals and spend significantly more time with their mothers. As a result, their rehabilitation period is often longer, and they benefit more from learning alongside older seals in rehab.
Many ice-dwelling species, such as hooded seals and ribbon seals, are notoriously difficult to care for in rehabilitation settings due to their specialized needs and high sensitivity to stress.
Recovery
As seals regain strength, they are gradually introduced to larger swimming pools and taught to eat independently.
- Once out of quarantine, seals enter fish school. Eating whole fish isn’t as simple as it seems – young seals must learn how to recognize, grasp, and swallow their food properly.
- To prepare for life in the wild, seals need to build strength. They are moved to larger pools where they can swim more frequently, improving their stamina and coordination.
- During this phase, seals are typically housed with roommates, giving them their first experience of social interactions and food competition. In more social species – the eared seals – stronger individuals may even help guide less experienced ones. However, species and age groups are generally kept separate in rehabilitation.
As seals become more independent, human interaction is minimized again, though some medical treatments may still be necessary during this stage.
Extra Insights:
Tags and other monitoring methods
Many seal rescue centers attach a unique flipper tag to rehabilitated seals before release. This allows researchers and rescuers to track the seal’s fate if it is:
Photographed or observed in the wild
Rescued again at another center
Found deceased, providing valuable data on survival rates
Other methods of identifying rescued seals include:
Fur pattern recognition (pelage): Some species have unique markings that can be used for identification.
Genetic sampling: DNA analysis can help track individuals over time.
Satellite tags: In some cases, seals are outfitted with temporary satellite tags before release. These devices provide detailed movement data. However, due to their high cost, satellite tagging is typically reserved for select individuals in research-focused projects.
These monitoring techniques provide crucial insights into the success of rehabilitation efforts and the challenges seals face after release.
Pre-Release
Seals are moved to larger (often outdoor) pools to build strength and practice foraging and socializing.
- Seals must gradually adjust to bigger pools and longer swimming and diving sessions. At this stage, they still tire easily and have limited breath-holding ability. Larger, deeper pre-release pools help them develop the muscle strength and stamina needed for survival.
- Seals interact with a larger group, learning how to behave around others and compete for food – essential skills for life in the wild.
- Interaction with humans is minimized further. Seals not only need to develop independence but ideally should regain a natural mistrust of humans to avoid dangerous encounters after release.
Medical treatments are completed by this stage, and the primary focus shifts to weight gain. A healthy fat reserve is crucial for survival once the seal is back in the wild.
Extra Insights:
Release party or release secrecy?
The way a seal release is organized depends on the facility, location, and circumstances.
In some areas, releases are treated as public events, allowing visitors, tourists, and donors and adopters of the seal pup to participate.
In regions where seals face controversy or endangerment, the release location may be kept secret to prevent disturbances – or worse, harm – to the newly released seal.
For guidance on ethical release practices, British organizations have published best practice guidelines for seal release. You can find them here.
Release
Once a seal is healthy and has reached a stable weight, it is returned to the wild.
Seals are kept in rehabilitation for as short a time as possible, but recovery can take weeks or even months, depending on the species and individual condition. Release only happens once they meet the necessary health and weight criteria.
Before release, seals undergo a last health assessment, not just to ensure they are ready to survive on their own, but also to prevent the spread of pathogens to wild populations.
The seal is placed in a crate or transport box and taken to a suitable release location – ideally a secluded or protected area.
The box is opened, and the seal is free to go. Depending on the situation, it may be released on a beach to leave at its own pace or placed directly into the water from a boat.
With a second chance at life, the seal will likely begin exploring and foraging soon after release. Good luck out there!
What happens next?
Release is the goal – but it’s not always the outcome. Some seals won’t make it back to the wild, and even for those that do, one question remains: are they truly set up for a good seal life?
Beyond Release: Does It Work?
- Released seals often vanish for a while, traveling far beyond their release sites. Some are later identified hundreds of miles away – rehabilitated seals from the Netherlands have even turned up in Scotland!
- Other seals turned up and were identified years after their release.
- Not all rescued seals stay out of trouble. Some end up needing a second rescue, raising questions about whether human interaction affects their survival skills. While research on behavioral differences between rehabilitated and fully wild seals is limited, studies suggest released seals may take time to adapt to natural movement patterns. In the first years post-release, this adjustment can put them at a disadvantage.
- To track these changes, some released seals are fitted with satellite tags, which provide valuable movement data until they naturally shed during molting. But perhaps the greatest proof that rehabilitation works comes when rescued seals are spotted with pups of their own – especially in vulnerable populations like monk seals.
Rescue efforts don’t just give individual seals a second chance; they help sustain entire populations. The journey from rescue to release is only the beginning of the story.
No Release Possible: Options
- Despite treatment and rehabilitation, some seals are deemed unreleasable. The reasons vary: blindness, chronic illness requiring medication, severe flipper injuries, or excessive human dependence can make survival in the wild unlikely.
- When a seal’s chance of survival is too low, releasing it could mean unnecessary suffering.
- What happens next depends on the facility’s policies and resources.
- Some seal rescue centers double as sanctuaries, providing non-releasable seals with a permanent home.
- Many seals in aquariums or zoos arrived as rescues that couldn’t be returned to the wild. Some centers seek placement in such facilities or other sanctuaries.
- Other rescue programs operate under a “release to the wild only” approach. In cases where release would lead to suffering, euthanasia becomes an option – never taken lightly, but considered to prevent prolonged hardship.
While the goal is always to return seals to their natural habitat, ensuring each individual’s welfare remains the top priority. Whether through sanctuary placements or difficult decisions, the focus is on preventing suffering while honoring the effort that went into rescue and care.
What Are Seals Ailing From?
Seals face a range of natural challenges, but many of these problems are worsened by human activity. Overfishing reduces prey availability, climate change disrupts breeding patterns, and human disturbance weakens immune defenses, making infections more likely. While some dangers, like entanglement in marine debris, are visibly linked to our actions, many others unfold more subtly – but the impact is just as real.
| Ailment | Details |
| Maternal separation | Mothers abandon their pups because of inexperience, separation by storm, traumatic births, and most often human disturbance |
| Malnourishment | Orphaned pups, seals who can't forage enough fish to survive, and seals who have lost too much energy to human disturbance |
| Entanglement | Seals caught in marine debris like fishing gear |
| Bite wounds | Injuries caused by dogs, sharks, or other seals |
| Injuries | Broken bones, infected wounds, because seals got battered by storms or injured on the flight from disturbance; boat strikes |
| Parasites | Lungworms, faecal worms, tapeworms and other parasites cause diseases, threatening seals with weak immune responses (like pups or stressed seals) |
| Diseases | Caused by a variety of pathogens, notable examples: phocine distemper virus; bird flu, mouthrot |
| Harmful events | oil spills, toxic algae blooms, and others |
Special Case: Entanglements
Entanglements are becoming increasingly common – and they are among the most horrific rescue cases. Seals caught in debris often suffer deep, infected wounds and endure prolonged suffering before they are found.
Rescue is especially challenging when entanglements affect juveniles or older seals, as they are harder to catch and more prone to stress from human interaction. Even if freed, their weakened state means survival is uncertain, and recovery can take a long time.
Seals most often become entangled in monofilament fishing nets, but plastic waste is also a major culprit – especially ring-shaped objects like discarded flying rings and ropes, which tighten around their necks as they move and grow.
Many entangled seals never make it to rehabilitation. Those that do get rescued often arrive in critical condition, their injuries telling the story of a long, painful struggle.
The Rescue Framework: Laws & Cooperation
In most countries, seal rescue is strictly regulated by national or international law. These laws determine who is authorized to rescue a seal, under what circumstances intervention is allowed, and how marine mammals must be handled. Without proper authorization – such as a mandate or license – touching or disturbing a seal is often illegal. Regulations like the Marine Mammal Protection Act (USA) and the international Wadden Sea Seal Agreement ensure seals are protected while allowing accredited organizations to step in when needed.
However, some national policies focus solely on population monitoring and conflict management rather than rehabilitation. In such cases, the absence of a legal framework for seal rescue makes intervention effectively impossible – as seen in Denmark. Others, like Sweden, even support cullings, tradtionally seen as a method to protect fisheries. For a deeper dive into global seal laws, visit our History of Seal Rescue section.
Where seal rescue and conservation efforts exist, they rely on a deeply interconnected network of organizations. Some focus on monitoring and reporting, others specialize in rescue and initial care, while rehabilitation centers ensure seals have the best chance at survival before release. Stranding networks coordinate these efforts, ensuring that seals in need can find help close by. Knowledge and experience are often shared to achieve better outcomes.
This collaborative approach has saved thousands of seals worldwide, proving that when experts, volunteers, and communities work together, meaningful change is possible. Even in places where direct rescue isn’t supported, conservation initiatives and public awareness continue to shape policies, ensuring the protection of seal populations for generations to come.