Welcome to Henrys Blog. Henry the sea lion, who is frequently seen at Holdfast Shores and around Adelaide must be the only sea lion to have his own website and blog. For about 40 days from mid-February 2008, anybody who wanted to find out where he was could on his website and find out. Since Christmas 2007, Henry had been losing weight and vomiting intermittently. While this is not unusual for wild sea lions, if was out of character for Henry. Officers of the Department for Environment and Heritage, the South Australian Research and Development Institute, the South Australian Museum, Zoos SA and Project Dolphin Safe met in early February 2008 to discuss what could be done to ensure that Henry was healthy. Over the previous two months, Henry had vomited a plastic bag, cooked prawns and shark cutlets. These unnatural foods may have contributed to his loss of condition.Henry is a much loved part of the Adelaide scenery, so his “Team” had to make sure that any decisions were based on the best data and opinion available. Normally, wildlife authorities tend to adopt a non-interventionist policy with wildlife. That is that they are wild that should live and die with minimal human interference. But some individual animals, like Henry, have such place in the hearts of South Australians that intervention is required – because there is a public expectation to do so and because he is special to wildlife officers as well.
In February 2008 Henry was anaesthetized and underwent a full veterinary check, courtesy of the zoo vet who also took blood, urine and faecal samples to make sure everything was alright on the inside. Fortunately, he got the all clear. The tests showed that he was basically a healthy, middle aged, slightly underweight male sea lion which may have been recovering from a gastric ulcer.
To ensure that Henry is feeding on his natural diet, not just on the human foods he is given or finds, the team decided to glue a radio tracking device on him while he was asleep. This allowed his movements to be tracked for up to 45 days when the batteries were expected to run out.
Because Henry is so popular, the Team thought that the public might like to track his movements as well – so created Henry’s website was created. The henrythesealion.com website contained a live feed on Henry’s movements as well and information about him and the broader issues of seal and sea lion conservation in South Australia. It also contained photos and numerous links for anyone who wanted to learn more about these fascinating animals and about the conservation of our coast and marine ecosystems.
When the tracker was removed in March 2008 it was decided to keep Henry’s website and to add to it so Henry can introduce his human friends to the threatened species which share his world and through helping them learn about the marine environment, help the decision makers of tomorrow to protect it for the future.
My satelite tracker will be removed in early April 2008 so my Team will not know exactly where I am or what I am doing. Over the past six weeks or so I have developed lots of friends through my diary and many of you will have lots of stories about me, other sea lions and the other animals that share my ocean. So, this blog site is your opportunity to tell everyone. Please use it and thank you for caring about me.
By: Deb Kelly on March 27, 2008
at 6:05 am
I am fascinated by Henry’s Diary entries, were they all based on data collected during his travels or was some poetic license used. For example How did you know what fish he was eating or chasing? or was a camera attached to the transmitter?
By: Barb G on April 5, 2008
at 6:29 am