A HARTLEPOOL veterinary practice is working with conservationists over concerns about the alarming number of common seal pups found dying on North East beaches.
Clifton Lodge Vets in Stockton Road, Hartlepool, has seen 10 cases this summer of common seal pups brought into the practice either dead or needing to be put to sleep due to mouth rot.
The practice has taken swabs from their mouths and samples of blubber to help investigations by conservation group Tara Seal Research into the high mortality rate of the pups.
Mouth rot is a condition that affects the mouths of newly weaned common seal pups. Pups can experience muzzle swelling, facial wounds and abscesses and ulceration of the roof of the mouth. The ulcerations can become severe and have serious impacts on the pup’s health and welfare, ultimately resulting in their death.
Clifton Lodge Vets Clinical Director Zoe Dykes and senior veterinary nurse Sue Gibson are now raising awareness of the plight of the baby seals on behalf of the practice because they fear for the future population of common seals.
Sue said: “Of the 21 common seal pups born this year between Redcar and Northumberland, all 21 have not survived. We have had 10 seal pups brought into the practice by British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and they have either been dead or they have been so poorly we had to put them to sleep. Their birth weight should be 11-12kg but they weighed only 8-9kg.”
The last seal to be euthanised at the practice team was brought into Clifton Lodge’s Hartlepool branch at the end of August.
Zoe, who has had the sad task of having to put the pups to sleep, said: “As a vet it is very frustrating not to be able to treat them when they have mild or early symptoms, but by the time they are poorly and brought to us, they are beyond saving.
“Some are already dead when they are brought in and our job is to take samples for investigation, and the other ones I’ve seen simply could not be treated and had to be put to sleep for their own welfare.
“Mouth rot starts with ulcers on the roof of the mouth, and we had one seal pup with a hole through the bridge of its nose as the flesh was just dying off.
“Researchers are still trying to establish what is causing this. We have seen a 100% mortality rates, and if that continues, we are going to lose the common seal population altogether in the North East.”
Clifton Lodge Vets also has practices in Horden, Billingham and Sedgefield, but Hartlepool is its biggest site. The practice is part of VetPartners, a veterinary group led by vets which owns some of the most respected and trusted veterinary practices and animal healthcare businesses across the UK and Europe.