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Junior Reporter Ella May McSweeney writes about her visit to Sealife Sanctuary
Last week I watched SONG OF THE SEA, a cartoon about fairy tales from Ireland. Over there they believe in ‘Selkies’ – they are people that are humans like us on land but turn into seals in the sea! The little girl in the film is a selkie called Saorise and is the same age as me. I loved her special shell and magic song.
I went to the Sealife Sanctuary in Hunstanton to meet and find out about real seals. I visited the special seal hospital there which looks after sick seals. It was lunchtime so I helped feed the seals their favourite fish which is herring. Each of the seals ate 7 fish each, they must have been hungry.
My favourite seal was called Silver. Someone found him washed up on the beach near the centre. He was a pup, which is the name for a baby seal. He had lost his mum, and didn’t know how to catch fish. So the people at the centre fed him milk to make him strong and healthy. When Silver gets better and grows bigger, he will be put back in to the sea. I hope he finds his family again.
I learnt some more interesting facts about seals. Seals can breathe underwater for half an hour. They sleep out of water but they don’t have eyelids to close their eyes. They have eyebrows and whiskers and very sharp teeth. Seals have a very good sense of smell like dogs, so they can find fish to eat.
The seals I met at the sanctuary were called ‘grey seals’ and they can live until they are 46 years old, which is really old. Seals love playing like us and the ones I met were friendly. They had big beautiful eyes. I hope they get better soon so they can return to the sea.
I saw some bigger seals swimming in a pool at the centre. You can watch them swim underwater through the glass. They are very quick and use their flippers to swim. You can see other sea creatures at the centre too including rays and sharks. The Sealife Sanctuary is a really good place to visit if you are interested in the sea, and the animals that live in it.
Written by Ella May McSweeney (7 years old)