Sahara the Arctic Seal is learning to conquer his strange phobia of the cold with the aid of a Scotsman ice machine, courtesy of Hubbard Ice Systems.
Sahara has been given a permanent home in the UK by the National Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall after swimming more than 1000 miles to Mediterranean waters and being rescued not once but twice.
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Read full story below or click on the following links to see Sahara in the News.
Ice for the Arctic Seal with Wanderlust
Hubbard Ice Systems has loaned a Scotsman ice machine to the National Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall, to help resident Arctic Hooded Seal, Sahara, feel more at home over the warm summer months.
Sahara the Arctic Hooded Seal has been given a permanent home by the National Seal Sanctuary after swimming more than 1000 miles to Mediterranean waters and being rescued not once but twice.
The 2-year-old, timid male was originally found in 2006 washed up near Morocco, thousands of miles from his Arctic home. He was malnourished and had a lung infection but was quickly transferred to Loro Parque Zoo in Tenerife to be rehabilitated. Once he was well enough Sahara was flown to the National Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall but he was still bald, 40kilos overweight and had an under-active thyroid. The Seal Sanctuary nurtured Sahara back to full strength, fitted him with a satellite tag and released him back into the wild off the Orkney Coast but within 8 weeks he washed up again, this time off the coast of Spain.
It was decided that Sahara was not fit for release back into the wild and so he was given a permanent home at the Sanctuary in Cornwall.
Despite seemingly enjoying a warm climate Sahara needs to keep cool and a plea for help went out to find a suitable cooling solution. Hubbard Ice Systems loaned the sanctuary a Scotsman MFN56 Nugget Ice machine, capable of producing up to half a tonne of ice in a day. Scotsman Nugget Ice is much favoured by Vets as it is of consistent quality, easy to work with and slow-melt, perfect to keep Sahara cooler for longer.
The ice is shovelled directly from the machine to create a 'haul out' area for Sahara to relax on, but being the shy creature that he is, at present Sahara will only come out on the ice first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening when the viewing public aren't around.
Tamara Cooper, Head of the Animal Care Team at The National Seal Sanctuary says, "Sahara is naturally shy but has come out of his shell no end since he has been with us and is in the final stages of his rehabilitation and socialisation with other seals. We are training him to eat fish from the top of the ice pile so he grows accustomed to being out there with the public watching him. I guess there are not many people in the Arctic so you can't blame him for being wary!
"As Sahara gets older our aim is to build him an arctic enclosure, with cold and warm water pools. Despite the fact Arctic Seals live in a freezing climate they are also partial to warmer water, hence why Sahara kept drifting southwards.
"Sahara is not the only Arctic seal to be rehabilitated at the National Seal Sanctuary after being found in warm climates but Sahara's journey to Morocco could be the furthest south an Arctic seal has ever survived."
Chris Davis, Commercial Director at Hubbard Ice Systems, says, "When we heard of Sahara's plight we had to act quickly to ensure that he had the ice to keep cool over the warmest part of the summer, we've previously supplied ice machines to arctic exploration ships, but never one to a seal!"
Factfile
The Arctic Hooded Seal is so called as males have a bizarre inflatable 'hood' on their heads and can also inflate their nasal cavity out through their nostrils like a red balloon.
On average they live for between 30-35 years. Fully grown they measure 220-250cm and weigh 350-435kg (females are smaller than males).
They commonly live in the North West Atlantic and Greenland Sea but ranging as far east as Ireland, as far south as Portugal and occasionally from the Atlantic down to California and Puerto Rico.