Grey Seal Finds New Home At Brookfield Zoo

BROOKFIELD, IL — Animal care staff at Brookfield Zoo welcomed Georgette, nicknamed “Georgie,” a grey seal late last month, according to a news release from the zoo.

Since her birth, it appears the 7-year-old pinniped has had defects in both her eyes. This may be why, at only a couple months old in March 2013, she was found stranded on an island in Georgetown, Maine, which is near the mouth of the Kennebec River and Gulf of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean, the release said.

While being rehabilitated by staff at the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center in Biddeford, Maine, it was suspected that she suffered additional eye trauma before the time she was stranded, according to the zoo.

Because she is fully blind in the left eye and functionally blind in her right eye, authorities at National Marine Fisheries Service deemed her unreleasable back to the wild, the news release said. In June 2013, she was transferred to Detroit Zoo, where staff named her after the town where she was found.

At Brookfield Zoo, Georgie recently received a complete veterinary evaluation under anesthesia, during which a veterinary ophthalmologist further evaluated her eyes, the release said. As a result of abnormal development of visual pathways in the brain due to vision deprivation shortly after birth, Georgie displays a wandering nystagmus, a condition that results in rhythmic, regular movements of her eyes.

Even with her loss of vision, Georgie is getting well acclimated to her new home. Brookfield Zoo’s Seven Seas staff has a lot of experience in working with deaf and/or blind pinnipeds, according to the zoo. Over the years, the zoo has provided a forever home to several grey seals and sea lions found stranded in the wild and unable to be returned due to similar situations like Georgie’s.

“Since Georgie has been blind her entire life, this is all she knows, and she has adapted very well to life in human care,” Rita Stacey, curator of marine mammals for the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages the zoo, said in a statement. “With her move to Brookfield Zoo, Georgie hasn’t skipped a beat. She is an outgoing and curious seal and spends time exploring her new habitat and getting to know her new caretakers.”

The animal care team needs to interact with Georgie a little differently than the other pinnipeds. During husbandry training sessions, staff usually use visual cues when engaging with the animals, according to the news release.

However, in Georgie’s case, staff use verbal, audible, and tactile cues. For instance, staff made a shaker target — a small buoy that is filled with rocks on the end of a short pole — so Georgie can hear and follow the sound when staff ask her to move between the four outdoor habitats.

In addition to getting to know the staff, this week Georgie is being reintroduced to Kiinaq, a 19-year-old grey seal with whom she was also pool mates with when they were both at Detroit Zoo.