On April 24, a citizen of Homer, AK found a young seal pup on the mud flats. The pup had been bothered by nearby eagles, as two punctures on her head suggested. She also had a thick white coat of fur, indicating she was born prematurely. Based on her condition and with no other seals in the area, the pup would likely not survive without intervention. The Alaska SeaLife Center's Wildlife Response Team brought the pup back to Seward for rehabilitation.

May 2 - Today Silky had a check-up to see how her wounds and umbilicus are looking. They both are closing up and healing nicely. She is done with her round of antibiotics.

Silky has been consistenty gaining weight, and has grown in her teeth! She is also slowly losing her white lanugo coat. At over two weeks old, she will soon be transitioned to a fish based gruel to prepare her digestive system for whole fish when she weans.

Staff members have observed Silky tracking and killing live fish!! This is great step towards her learning to eat on her own! 

Silky is doing great and is ready for the graduation pool!! A flipper tag has been placed between the webbing of her hind flipper for identification purposes and she was moved in with another seal from her region.  Now she will be able to learn the necessary skills of competing for fish and socializing with other animals. This pool is much deeper and has a fish cannon that allows staff to feed from outside of the pool so fish is not associated with humans. 

Today is the big day! Silky is now at a weight of 19kg! She will be brought to Homer (where she was rescued) for her release!! A huge thank you to the Homer Stranding Network Volunteers for making her rescue and therefore her release a success.