In 1960, a small northern fur seal was brought to the Vancouver Aquarium after a harrowing experience. A fisher had accidentally caught him with his rod while fishing for salmon.
The tiny creature, later known as Nippy, was the Vancouver Aquarium's first rescue patient. Dedicated staff nursed him back to health.
Two years later, aquarium staff brought an orphaned harbour seal to the facility.
Buster, as he was called, was malnourished and desperately in need of a helping hand. Staff fed and treated the small pup until he was healthy and chubby.
Murray Newman, one of the founding directors of the Vancouver Aquarium, recalls the learning curve that was involved with caring for wild animals.
"Baby harbour seals were brought to us occasionally in the early days, but we had great difficulty feeding them because we didn't realize they could not digest cow's milk," he said. "My wife, Kathy, helped to get them started on a liquid diet. They snapped with their sharp little teeth, and one particularly energetic little fellow left a permanent scar on her elbow."
In the years that followed, aquarium staff cared for a number of rescued marine mammals. When there wasn't room, staff often created make-shift habitats for the injured or sick animals that were rescued and rehabilitated at the aquarium.
Occasionally, patients with special needs were even taken home by aquarium's staff for extra, intensive care.
Despite not having a formal rescue centre, the team's commitment to animal welfare was always apparent. Staff and volunteers brought animals to the aquarium for treatment or travelled to locations where animals were stranded.
In 1989, staff at the aquarium rescued and cleaned a number of sea otters covered in oil after the Exxon Valdez disaster off the southern coast of Alaska.
In 2002, the aquarium also played a key role in the rescue of Springer, a one-year-old killer whale who was found in Puget Sound (near Seattle), orphaned and hundreds of miles from her pod.
"The work was, and still is, so intensely gratifying," says Lindsaye Akhurst, manager of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. "When I began working for the aquarium, I was so thrilled to help animals every day - many of whom were in danger because of human actions."
In 2004, the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre was created.
Located on land provided by the Vancouver Port Authority, the new facility gives staff and volunteers the space needed to manage their ever-increasing patient load.
The Rescue Centre is perhaps best known for rescuing harbour seal pups who garner much public attention with their cute faces and human-like cries, but over the past 50 years, the aquarium has rescued a variety of animals, including elephant seals, fur seals, sea otters, sea lions, and cetaceans.
Today, the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre provides world-class veterinary care to its patients. A highly-qualified medical team performs complicated medical procedures with cutting-edge diagnostic tools.
The reputation of the facility has grown tremendously and attracts biology and veterinary students from around the world.
"Our ultimate goal is to better under-stand the threats faced by marine mammal species and the environment that we so closely share," says Dr. Martin Haulena, staff veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Operating largely on donations and the tireless efforts of staff and volunteers, the aquarium's Rescue Centre continues to assist and rescue over 150 animals every year with the goal of returning them to their natural habitat. It is the only rescue hospital of its kind in Canada.
To donate to or find out more about the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, visit vanaqua.org/mmr.
