Mignon: putting on weight

A week after she was rescuedhaving being stranded on a beach in north Brittany and taken to the seal rehabilitation centre in the Oceanopolis we went to visit Mignon. Little Mignon, the Grey seal pup who looked so frightened and pitiful last week, is clearly on the road to recovery.

Her diet consists of 400g of raw fish a day, and it is doing her good. In the wild, Grey seals will wean at about three to four weeks of age, putting on about three kilo a week. After that they should have enough fat reserves to tide them over while they learn to hunt and eat solid food. Mignon’s first meals were mashed fish, fed through a tube. Within a few days, at about five weeks old, Mignon was learning to eat whole fish. She hasn’t yet learned to take them for herself, so still needs help with being fed.

If Mignon’s progress continues at this rate, she’ll soon be able to join the other seals in the basin. We’ll visit her again next week and see how she’s doing.