VANCOUVER AQUARIUM RELEASES

4 REHABILITATED SEALS

Vancouver, BC: On Saturday, the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue staff and veterinarian returned four rehabilitated harbour seals to the ocean at Whytecliff Park Beach in West Vancouver.

The Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue program (MMR) has been providing care and rehabilitation to a variety of sick, injured or abandoned animals since 1960. This year the program has already released 12 seals back into the wild, with 29 seals waiting to be released. Other animals that have been treated in the past include sea otters, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, elephant seals, grey whales and killer whales.

Each year Aquarium staff and volunteers name the rescued seals based on a theme - this year’s theme is capital cities. Oslo, Tehran, Kabul and Georgetown were released on Saturday.

The Aquarium’s ongoing Save Our Seals program, which asks Aquarium visitors to donate $2 at admissions in exchange for a Save our Seals sticker, has raised $164,731 for MMR so far this year. Vancity has also agreed to donate the proceeds from all fundraising activities of its staff from July through December to MMR.

For further information, please contact:

Brenda Jones

Manager, Public Relations                                                  

publicrelations@vanaqua.org