Ice for the Arctic Seal with Wanderlust

The MK Group has gained widespread coverage for its client Hubbard Ice Systems after they loaned an ice machine to an Arctic Seal with wanderlust.

The MK Group, who have been Marketing and PR advisors to HTG Trading, Hubbard Ice's parent company, for over 10 years, embarked on a local, national and trade PR campaign and commissioned a photographer with widespread experience of working with aquatic wildlife to provide photos that would enhance this unique story.

Sahara the Arctic Hooded Seal has been given a permanent home by the National Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall after swimming more than 1000 miles to Mediterranean waters and being rescued not once but twice.

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 of Ipswich loaned the sanctuary an ice machine capable of producing up to half a tonne of ice in a day.

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.

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! Thanks to MK he's certainly had a lot of attention from the press of late, which should help him grow accustomed to visitors"

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.

Ice for the Arctic Seal with Wanderlust

Factfile

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