Dan Jarvis From British Divers Marine Life Rescue joined us in the studio to talk to us about Seals. We invited Dan shortly after the tragic incident involving an off lead dog & Freddie the seal at Teddington. We strongly advocate for keeping dogs on leads whenever there might be a chance of encountering wildlife & were delighted to have the opportunity to learn more about threats to seals & how we can keep seals safe.
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​You can visit BDMLR here

Listen to Michelle's conversation with Dan here.

Credit The Seal Alliance

Relaxed happy seals, undisturbed hauled out on a rock.

Credit The Seal Alliance

Disturbed seals stampeding out to sea. The seals are at real risk of injuring themselves.

A disturbed seal stampeding over the edge of a rock face into the sea, being dashed against the rocks. 

Credit The Seal Alliance

Seal mothers will leave their pups for extended periods as they return to the sea in search of food. It is very important that we do not touch the lone pup or get to close to it. Seals recognise their pups using scent. Your scent may confuse the mother seal resulting in abandonment of the pup. If you see a lone seal pup watch from a safe distance for it's mother to return & remember that she may not do so if she can see you.

Credit The Seal Alliance

It is absolutely vital that you keep your dog on a lead whenever there may be wildlife in an area. The best behaved dogs can act out of character when faced with an animal they have not encountered before. There is also the risk that stampeding seals may arouse your dogs prey drive in much the same way as a flock of nervous sheep might. Please don't rely on your dogs previous good behaviour & impeccable track record around other animals. Remember the mantra wildlife - dog -lead.

Cat The Vet joins us & gives us the low down on all the nasties that can adversely affect not only our dogs health but that of others & sometimes people too when we adopt a dog from overseas.

Cat talks to us about the dangers of parasites as well as viral & bacterial disease & discusses the importance of behaviour assessments for dogs with an unknown history.

As Easter approaches Rae Walters from The Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund joins us & chats to Dale about rabbits.

Rae explains to us exactly what it takes to keep a rabbit healthy & happy, how we should be looking for our next furry family member, the dangers of backyard breeding & online ads & surprises us when she tells us about brachy rabbits, a breeding nightmare we previously thought was confined to our canine friends.

Press play on the audio player below to hear what Rae had to tell us.