Rescued seal dies

At 15h30 on Sunday the 23rd of August, NSRI Richards Bay were alerted by members of the public to assist at 5 Mile Beach where a seal appeared to be injured on the beach.Calls to animal agencies had yielded no assistance and the bystanders appealed to the NSRI for help.Because seals are not normally found in Richards Bay the NSRI sent volunteers to investigate and what was believed to be a Cape Fur Seal was found on the beach.With the seal appearing to be dehydrated and hypothermic NSRI attempted to rally support from official animal agencies and vets in the area. After these attempts failed, the uShaka Marine World, Durban, were contacted and although they confirmed that they could assist the seal would have to be brought to Durban.NSRI Richards Bay volunteers, using one of our volunteers private bakkies, loaded the seal onto the back of the bakkie and transported it the 200km to uShaka Marine World in Durban where vets were on stand-by to receive the seal. Throughout the trip, NSRI Richards Bay volunteer crew comforted the seal which was wrapped in blankets.It was confirmed that the seal was dehydrated and hypothermic and vets were able to feed the seal a milk lactate and begin a re-warming process but NSRI Richards Bay were informed on Monday morning that despite all of the efforts, the seal had passed away during the night.It is unknown what led to the seal being so far North in an area where seals are not normally found. TO REPORT A SEA RESCUE EMERGENCY DIAL 112 FROM A CELLPHONESMS 32287 with your name and a message of support for our Sea Rescue crew