Wind farm funding award for Caithness seal rehab group
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A Caithness seal rehabilitation centre has been able to carry out a range of improvements after receiving £15,000 in wind farm funding.
Caithness Seal Rehab and Release, based at Brough, was set up in November 2022 with a mission to help protect, rescue, treat and release both common/harbour seals and grey seals along the county’s coastline.
This year the group has received pups from as far away as Lewis, Skye and Fraserburgh. Seal pups require assistance for a number of reasons, such as dog attacks, disturbance from humans getting too close, damage from boats, fishing equipment or waste, or natural causes such as a storm.
Buildings near Brough harbour have been repurposed and established as a seal hospital.
The money was awarded by the Stroupster Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund.
Work has included new equipment, flooring and panelling the walls with wet board for a new food preparation room designed around improving hygiene standards and for ease of cleaning and disinfecting.
The intensive care unit (ICU) has had a new floor laid and the walls panelled with wet board for better cleaning. There is also now a new building with additional pens.
The funding was also used to buy a new water pump so that the pools can be filled directly rather than having volunteers driving down to the harbour to fill water bowsers.
Founder member Clare Boardman said: “We are very happy to have received this much-needed funding from Stroupster Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund, administered by Foundation Scotland. They have given us a fantastic amount of £15,000.
“This will enable us to complete all the improvements we need to make to make our hospital safer and an easier place to work in, with new pens for the seals, a small laboratory, a new food preparation room and ICU improvements. We are also able to buy equipment needed to store fish and prepare feeds.
“We hope to involve more local volunteers, do educational talks in schools and hold more event nights.
“This has been a fantastic result and very much appreciated by all volunteers and seal pups alike.”
Clare added: “We have 15 volunteers all from the local and surrounding communities. Three of our volunteers are doing PhDs and work at the Environmental Research Institute in Thurso.
“We also take on volunteers from abroad who stay with us during the winter, who want to gain valuable experience.
“Our three volunteers doing PhDs are also working on a project that will enable us to GPS-tag our pups. This will enable us to track where the pups go, amongst other things.”
Eilidh Coll, community fund adviser for Foundation Scotland, said: “The panel appreciated the high level of volunteering and learning made possible by this new initiative. Volunteers have the opportunity to become highly skilled and qualified marine medics.
“A seal pup may stay in the centre for around four months being hand-fed and slowly introduced to catching its own fish in the pool. The level of work is very demanding but also very rewarding.
“The panel sincerely hopes that this award will make the volunteering experience easier and free up time to spend on the most important tasks.”
