Pictures: Baby Seals Rescued After European Storms

Seal Nursery

Photograph by Peter Dejong, AP    

Inundated with seals, the Zeehondencrèche facility was forced to erect a temporary tent with bathtubs and swimming pools to house their furry patients.

Each new arrival is washed, given fluids, and then fed a "porridge" of ground herring and water, the AFP reported. Volunteers put medication in the herring—as seen above on January 12—to speed up the animals' recovery.

Most of the nursery's rescued seals are healthy enough to be released into the Wadden Sea or North Sea within three months, according to the news agency.

(See pictures of seals and sea lions.)

Published January 18, 2012

Making a Splash

Photograph by Catrinus Van der Veen, European Pressphoto Agency

A rescued baby seal splashes in its bathtub on January 12.

The Zeehondencrèche facility typically treats 150 seals over an entire year. But the recent storm-driven spate of rescued pups has swelled the facility's current number to 365, according to the AFP.

(See more pictures of baby animals.)

Published January 18, 2012

Head Above Water

A gray seal pup peeks above the water in an outdoor pool at the RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre in Taunton, England, on January 9.

As of January 18, the U.K. center was caring for 41 rescued seals also affected by the European storms, according to the newspaper Newmarket Journal.

"It is very unfortunate timing, as the winds and rough seas came at the exact point in the year when [baby] grey seals are left to fend for themselves and make their own way into the water," facility manager Alison Charles told the Journal.

(See pictures: "Seals, Sea Lions, Satellites Help Map Ocean.")

Published January 18, 2012

Meal Time

Photograph by Peter Dejong, AP

A volunteer gives a seal pup a herring while others watch on January 12. In the wild, the most vulnerable pups are those less than a year old, the AFP reported.

"These pups eat small fish, but even in protected areas, they cannot find food, because there are no more small fish left," Zeehondencrèche director 't Hart told the news agency.

Published January 18, 2012