The nomination "Responsible for those...": Employees of the Tyulen rehabilitation center in Tavrichanka returned more than 120 spotted seals to the sea.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Russia's first pinniped rehabilitation center in Vladivostok. This story began in 2005, when writer and artist Laura Beloivan and her veterinarian husband Pavel Chopenko picked up a dying seal puppy.
"My husband and I were walking a dog on the coast, found a dying baby seal and brought it home. We didn't know what to do with him for two days until we went to the Irish rehabilitation center. Unfortunately, everything ended badly for our discovery: two weeks later, Chuvyrla (as we called her) died of allergic shock. We were terribly worried, and those days turned our lives upside down. We suddenly realized that we wanted to take care of the seals," Laura and Pavel tell their story on the website of the rehabilitation center.
At first, they tried to take care of the seals in an apartment, but then the family bought a house with a swimming pool. So, after a while, a pinniped rescue center was registered in Vladivostok. Now it is an autonomous non-profit organization called the Seal Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Center.
"The habitat of our mottled seals is from Vladivostok to Chukotka; we are engaged in the rescue of their cubs. As a rule, 50% of young seals do not live up to a year and are very vulnerable, because this is not the top of the food chain. And this applies to almost all pinnipeds. 10% of them die in rookeries for various reasons, adults were pushed in, the mother did not return, and so on," said Laura Beloivan.
Those who suffered from early extreme separation from a female and found themselves in human sight or in populated areas are taken to the center. Every year, specialists and volunteers of the Seal Center release about twenty Far Eastern seal pups into the sea.
By June, the largs are gaining the right weight, about 45 kilograms, all the prescribed procedures are going through, and Operation Freedom for Seals begins at night,"Vesti reports. Primorye". That's when full board with private pools, waiters, and maids ends for the seals, the journalists joke.
In 2025, the season ended early, and in June, the seals were released into the salt waters and given a chance to live in their native element. On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Tyulen Center, volunteers from Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Moscow and Syktyvkar arrived for graduation.
But the work of the center's specialists does not end there. The length of the Primorsky coast is almost 900 kilometers and it is not always possible to quickly reach the wounded seal. That's why they also teach locals how to properly and safely evacuate seals from the shore, if necessary.
"We carry out preventive work every year and since the end of February we start talking about how to treat seals, we put out memos in cafes – how to distinguish an animal that needs help from those who just live. We say that they should not be dumped into the sea or carried into the sea," Laura Beloivan continues her story.
The center's specialists do not just collect and treat baby seals, but also implement a large world-class program for the rehabilitation and reintroduction of pinniped cubs. After all, it is in Primorye that the larg reproductive rookery zone is located. The Seal exists solely at the expense of the founders' personal funds and voluntary donations from individuals.
Photos and videos of the Tyulen rehabilitation center.