The Seal Sanctuary in Hel is a public aquarium in the town of Hel at the Polish seaside of the Baltic Sea and the only place in our country where you can see live seals. Click here and read about the aims and works of the unique sanctuary in Pomerania.
Besides University of Gdańsk students who take part in specially organized professional courses, seminars, and lectures, the Seal Sanctuary in Hel invites people who are interested in visiting a place where seals from the Baltics Sea could not be any happier.
The Seal Sanctuary in Hel is a part of a scientific and educational academic institution that supports the reconstruction and protection of gray seals in the southern Baltic region. The center has existed since 1999, although the activities for research and protection of seals started much earlier. The inspiration was a successful attempt to cure the first seal named Balbin, delivered for rehabilitation to the Hel facility.
The professional keepers take care of seals in the sanctuary but the center accepts volunteers each year. The facility offers:
“Apply for summer volunteer work in the seal sanctuary, where you will have the opportunity to help handle tourist traffic in the center, prepare meals for the seals, and participate in seal medical training or field interventions!”
The release of seals is also intended to replenish the losses suffered by their Baltic population as a result of careless human activity (sea pollution, fishing, disturbances). The aim is also so that gray seals, living throughout the sea, play a positive role as a predator and test the purity of the marine ecosystem, including the quality of fish consumed by humans.
The seal sanctuary examines, inter alia, behavior of seals, methods of nutrition and their diet, age, migration routes, intoxication of tissues with toxic substances, as well as the state of parasitism, and identifies the most important threats and causes of death of these animals.
You can support the center and donate to the collection here. Check the livestreams of the sanctuary and enjoy the view! Links are below:
Shallow pool insight: