Seal pups released on Valentines Day in Guernsey

A Guernsey animal charity celebrated 150 years of work by releasing two grey seal pups back into the wild.

The GSPCA released Jersey pup Aurora alongside Guernsey pup Luna C into the waters "where they belong" on Tuesday.

"It has been an incredibly busy day at the GSPCA and one we will never forget," manager Steve Byrne said.

The pups had been in its care for more than a year, with Aurora rescued in October 2021, and Luna C two months later in December.

Mr Byrne said: "Both were less than half their body weight and extremely poorly when they arrived.

"They have had a long road to get better and it was so nice to see them back where they belong."

Mr Byrne said the team witnessed a sign of love on Valentines Day.

"As well as our 150th, it is Valentines Day and once both pups were in they did what looked like give each other a kiss," he said.

Head of marine mammals at the GSPCA Geoff George said their release had not been "easy going".

"Each seal pup we rescue takes different lengths of time and with Aurora and Luna C they took much longer than normal to get up to a healthy weight and we also needed some fair weather which hasn't happened much recently as we don't like to release them when it is stormy," he said.

"It wasn't easy though as Luna C really didn't want to leave and took the longest time of all the pups to go into the large transport carrier."

The GSPCA said it was seeing its busiest seal pup season, hosting eight pups at one time.

In the past decade it said it had rescued and released 25 grey seal pups back into the wild.

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