Saving our Sealife

Monitoring rambunctious seals, rescuing injured seabirds and providing advice about displaced sea turtles is all in a day’s work for Victoria’s first dedicated marine unit.

An enormous southern elephant seal made quite a splash in January 2023 when he visited some of Victoria’s coastal hotspots – even flip-flopping down a busy street (and attempting to enter a petrol station) at Point Lonsdale. The adventurous mammal sparked plenty of public interest, but also highlighted an incredibly important message: marine life needs to be respected and protected. One of the groups responsible for ensuring the seal’s – and the public’s –safety at this time was Zoos Victoria’s Marine Response Unit (MRU). Launched in 2013 to watch over Victoria’s marine animals, the number of call outs increase year-on-year for the MRU, with 1,102 cases of marine life needing help across the state during the past year.

First responders

While no two days are the same for this dedicated team, it’s main role is to respond to calls from the public, government agencies or rangers, explains Ebony, MRU Officer. “Some days we have cases all over Victoria’s coastline, where we’re helping to facilitate veterinary care, or making sure animals have protections around them,” she says. “At the same time, we might be juggling remote rescues, or we could be out on a kayak trying to rescue an entangled swan or driving down to Gippsland to help an injured seal.”

The MRU team encounters an assortment of marine life –predominantly seals, but also sea turtles and seabirds. “Any animal on

EBONY

Marine Rescue Unit Officer, Zoos Victoria

Volunteer

Dispose

Minimise

Respect

Keep the beach that people happen to see, we might get called about,” explains Ebony. “That can be because they’re unwell or have been injured, particularly due to fishing-line entanglements.”

Sadly, it’s not just discarded fishing gear that impacts the wellbeing of marine animals; any waste that ends up on a beach is a potential hazard. The MRU team often sees face masks wrapped around seabirds’ feet or finds animals that have been hit by cars or attacked by dogs in suburban settings, or displaced from their habitat due to urban sprawl.

Rest, rehab and rewild

When it comes to rescues, every species presents unique challenges.

“If we have an entangled swan in suburban Melbourne, they’re used to people so are more likely to be responsive,” explains Ebony. “But Australian wood ducks are not very receptive to humans, and we need a different strategy to rescue them.”

When an animal requires veterinary care, it is usually taken to Melbourne Zoo, where the veterinary team has extensive experience with seabirds and seals. Or it might be redirected to another Zoos Victoria property, or a local vet clinic for observations and tests.

Sometimes, the animal is released soon after being assessed, as was the case recently when 15 birds were rescued from a drain. After being checked by Melbourne Zoo’s vets, they were given some fluids and a good night’s rest, before returning home the