Seal Rescue Ireland
Seal Rescue Ireland (SRI) is a registered charity (RCN: 20108519) dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of sick, injured and orphaned seals from across the coast of Ireland. We actively engage the public in marine conservation through education, research and community outreach programmes.
Member Q&A
What is your goal?
Seal Rescue Ireland is a registered charity that works around the clock to rescue, rehabilitate and release seal pups found sick, injured or orphaned across the coast of Ireland. As the only seal rescue centre in the Republic of Ireland, we respond to reports nationwide and aim to rehabilitate the pups back to full health so they can be returned to the wild. SRI promotes ocean conservation and sustainability through active education, community engagement and research programs, in order to protect our marine environment and all life within.
How have you been working towards this?
SRI has been providing frontline services for animal rescue and welfare for the past ten years. In recent years our campaigns to raise awareness of our work, and the threats to Ireland's native seals, has grown greatly, and as a result the demand for our services increased greatly. We have expanded our scope recently to include proactive habitat conservation and restoration programs including beach cleans, native trees plantings, and advocating for the protection of critical seal habitat. Our education programme has grown immensely, raising awareness among the public about large scale issues such as the climate and biodiversity crisis that not only impact seals, but global health as well.
How has being a member of The Wheel helped?
The Wheel has been incredibly helpful in providing free webinars and trainings and learning tools for our team to build a wide variety of useful skills.
How can people support you?
SRI is always recruiting volunteers to join our nationwide rescue network. We also heavily rely on public donations, and can be supported through a variety of different programmes including, adoptions, memberships, sponsorships, third party fundraisers and gift shop sales.
Do you have any success stories to share?
The year 2020 presented many challenges for everyone, and SRI was no exception. Despite the pandemic, SRI's life-saving work continued as wildlife rescue and rehabilitation qualifies as essential services. With so many people home from work and walking along their local shorelines due to covid, the number of reports SRI received rose drastically, and the total number of seals rescued was a record breaking 170 (which is nearly doubled from the previous year!). In addition to these additional challenges, our ability to fundraise through traditional public-facing events was severely hindered due to lockdown. Our innovative and hard working team adapted to these new challenges and swiftly created virtual fundraising and education opportunities which enabled us to keep our doors open to rescuing otherwise neglected marine mammals, and ensuring the continuation of this work for years to come.
Where can people find you on social media?
https://www.sealrescueireland.org/
https://www.facebook.com/sealrescueireland
https://twitter.com/seal_rescue
https://www.instagram.com/sealrescueireland
https://www.tiktok.com/@sealrescueireland
