Seals

Deep Sea World has two seal pools. Pool one houses our resident seals and pool two houses any injured and rescued seal pups brought to us by the SSPCA.

There are two species of seals breeding around the shore of the UK; the grey seal and the common or harbour seal.

Our seal enclosure opened in Spring 2005 and is home to our resident common seals. Facilities are able to house up to ten seal pups for the one to two month duration that the pups require to gain weight prior to being released back into their natural habitat.

Common seals are found in the more sheltered waters of sea lochs and sandy estuaries. They give birth to a dark coated pup between July and September. The pup is dark coloured as the white coat is shed before it is born. The pups are fed on milk for about three weeks then, once weaned, they too must fend for themselves. There are thought to be around 40,000 – 45,000 common seals around the British coast.

Deep Sea World and the Scottish SPCA are working together to ensure rescued and injured seals receive treatment and rehabilitation before being released back into the wild. After receiving specialist care at Middlebank Wildlife Centre, the seals are then transferred to Deep Sea World, where they are kept in large salt water pools. This allows the seals to get used to salt water and build up their muscles before being released into the wild, giving them the best possible chance of survival.