September 2021—On Sunday, 19th of September, a newborn baby monk seal of the protected species monachus-monachus was found at the port of Katapola. Our program coordinator Litsa Passari immediately informed the port police and came in contact with MOm (non-profit company for the research and protection of the Mediterranean seal monachus-monachus) in order the specialist to tell us what to do. The people of MOm told us not try to catch it and not give anything to eat but to monitor the baby for 24 hours and keep people in distance to let the mother, if she was around, to be able to find her. The presence of many people around the baby would prevent the mother from approaching and could also prevent the baby from coming out of the sea in order to rest.
The baby was female, only few days old and she was fed only through breastfeeding so the need for finding her mum was very urgent. Baby monk seals do not stay in the sea for long. They are born in caves where they remain until they grow and become stronger and then they venture out to the open sea. This baby was afraid of people so she was forced to swim longer than usual, with result of becoming weaker and weaker, so we needed to act immediately.
We asked the help of volunteers to make shifts of two people per shift in order to monitor the baby around the port until the next day. Our role was to keep people away, from those who were just curious to other who wanted to take photos up close. We asked them to keep some distance in order to give her a chance to sleep on the beach or on the rocks. Later in the evening, the baby reached a remote, protected beach far from people so we hoped that due to the lack of people she was able to get some sleep and eventually would be reunited with her mom. The next morning she was gone. We searched all over for her the next few days and still no sign of her. So we hope that she was able to find her mother and they are together now.
