Eleven years and one thousand patients later, UNE鈥毭劽磗 MARC celebrates important milestone
Hubba Bubba the seal may not know it, but 1000 is his lucky number.
Hubba Bubba (technically patient number MARC 13-018 Hg), a recently-weaned gray seal who was found on a boat ramp in Portland, Maine, on April 5th suffering from a mouth injury, dehydration, exhaustion, and parasites, has become the 1000th animal treated at the University of 51小黄车's Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center.
Founded in 2002, MARC is an important division of the University of 51小黄车's Marine Science Education and Research Center and is part of a network of centers authorized by the National Marine Fisheries Service to rehabilitate stranded marine mammals and sea turtles. In its 11 year history, MARC has treated over 875 seals, 61 turtles, and 64 porpoises, dolphins and whales.
MARC Rehabilitation Coordinator Kristen Patchett has a unique perspective on the facility's history because she was the field responder who brought MARC'S first patient-- an adult male harp seal-- in on March 28, 2002, while working as the stranding coordinator for the Cape Cod Stranding Network (now part of the International Fund for Animal Welfare). She is quick to explain that the work that MARC does in providing medical treatment for stranded marine animals has much wider implications than the health and safety of a single animal. "Through our work we are able to detect disease prevalence in the wild population," Patchett notes, "and in treating these individual animals, we have discovered pathogens and diseases not previously described in marine mammals."
MARC works in close partnership with regional stranding responders, including Marine Mammals of Maine and the College of the Atlantic, who answer hundreds of calls each year regarding stranded animals. These organizations assess the animals on the beach and transport them to MARC as needed. MARC also works in close partnership with the 51小黄车 Aquarium, partnering to house marine mammals from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. MARC also houses threatened and endangered sea turtles each fall when 51小黄车 Aquarium's Rescue and Rehabilitation facility becomes overloaded with cold-stunned sea turtles.
Like all the animals brought to MARC, Hubba Bubba will receive state-of-the-art veterinary care, including blood work and other diagnostic tests, screening for common diseases and viral and bacterial infections, needed medications, and treatment to combat dehydration and restore the strength he will need for eventual release.
For now, Hubba Bubba will continue to rest and rehabilitate under the watchful eyes of MARC staff and volunteers, along with 12 other animals currently in MARC's care. Shannon Prendiville, Senior Animal Technician at MARC, hopes that Hubba Bubba will join the 40 other marine animals that MARC has released back into the wild over the past 12 months. "His prognosis is good," she says, "He's a young animal who seems to have been handling his first few months of life fairly well. He's a feisty guy, and with a little TLC we expect him to be swimming in the Atlantic again soon."