Ellie making her way out of the Kennards Trailer
A textbook release for Ellie our Southern Elephant seal who was released at 07:00 south of Adelaide.
The AMWRRO crew arrived at Torrens Island at 02:00 to load Ellie into a donated Kennards Hire trailer for the 4 hour road trip to her release location.
Arriving on site for her release at 06:45 (sun rise) Ellie; now weighing a whopping 335kg was ready and waiting for the tailgate to be lowered. After a quick look around she was off and out of sight within minutes of release.
Ellie gained over 95kg whilst in care and considering she started moulting only days after arriving at AMWRRO it is amazing that she pulled through her rehabilitation.
Southern Elephant seals loose approximately one third of their body weight whilst moulting and thanks to the very dedicated team at AMWRRO she was fed the much needed balanced diet, additional proteins and oils during this period which is ultimately what saved her life.
Much to AMWRRO’s disappointment the Department for Environment Water and Natural Recourses (DEWNR) (Minister Ian Hunter MLC) has enforced many new conditions on AMWRRO to stop these animals being taken into care in the future without prior approval.
Last yawn before her long swim back home!
This will prohibit AMWRRO from providing the 24 hour rescue service to the general public for marine mammal issues as any sub-Antarctic species will now need departmental approval before the animal is touched or helped by AMWRRO Rescue Officers.
After hours approval is extremely difficult to obtain due to department officials not answering their phone after 16:59 each day and even harder to contact anyone on weekends.
Ultimately this will lead to animals suffering longer and at times even dying on our beaches without assistance – or will be “dealt with” by the department…
Despite AMWRRO being licensed for these species, DEWNR and Minister Ian Hunter are making our life extremely difficult when it comes to making a difference and saving lives, lives DEWNR and Minister Hunter are responsible for.
