Some seals get a bad deal. In the sea sharks and whales predate them. On land hunters club them to death. In captivity they are made to perform unnaturally for our entertainment and around our shores, they are injured and endangered by humans and our plastic.
Since my teenage years, when television footage brought the scourge of seal pup culling to a world audience, I’ve had an affection for these ungainly, though cute, animals. So, whilst in Norfolk with my campervan ‘George’, I decided to take a trip out to Blakeney Point to see seals in their natural, undisturbed environment.
We were staying at Burnham Deepdale Backpackers site. It’s halfway between Hunstanton and Wells-next-the-Sea on the A149, and a great base from which to explore the beaches, creeks, footpaths and villages of north Norfolk. But before heading out in a boat, we went to Hunstanton. On the resort’s seafront, facing out over The Wash towards Lincolnshire, Hunstanton Sea Life’s seal hospital has been nursing seals back to health for thirty years. “They do some amazing work here with seals,” says aquarist, and captive animal keeping graduate, Nicky Nelson. Her Antipodean accent is a long way from a local, clipped Norfolk lilt. “I actually moved over here to work with seals. They are my passion. There are more places here where you can work with seals than in Australia, and I ended up at Hunstanton Sea Life. If you wanted someone to talk about seals, you’ve probably got the person who loves them most!”
This story is from the Issue 93 edition of VW Bus T4&5+.
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This story is from the Issue 93 edition of VW Bus T4&5+.
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