Discover Benelux | Culture | Pieterburen Seal Centre
SEALCENTRE PIETERBUREN:
Come face to face with recovering seals TEXT & PHOTOS: STUART FORSTER
Pieterburen, a village three kilometres inland from the Wadden Sea, has some unusual inhabitants. It is home to a rehabilitation and research centre where injured and ill seals are treated before being released back into the wild. The Sealcentre Pieterburen – located in Groningen province, the Netherlands – offers visitors the opportunity to see recovering seals and learn all about the region’s rich marine ecosystem. The family-friendly centre is 25 kilometres north-west of the city of Groningen. It was opened in 1971 by Lenie ‘t Hart to rehabilitate injured and abandoned seal pups. “At that point in time, the Dutch coastline 80 | Issue 58 | October 2018
provided habitat for so many seals that the animals carried a bounty. People were paid for each of the animals that they shot,” says Camille Debongnie, a Belgian volunteer spending eight weeks at the centre. Displays and videos within the Sealcentre Pieterburen provide information about the lifecycle of seals and an overview of the Wadden Sea, which in 2009 was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, because of its geological and ecological value. The body of water, whose coastline is characterised by intertidal mudflats, lies between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and is home to several seal species. A census undertaken in 2017 es-
timated that the population of grey seals is 5,450, at a ten per cent year-on-year increase. Common seals, alternatively known as harbour seals, also inhabit the Wadden Sea.