It could have quite easily been a heartbreaking scene to watch unfold, the sight of the young seal pup named ‘Emilia’ observing, with that look of perplexed curiosity that only a grey seal pup can convey, as her tank – one of the four nursery pools that had been her home at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek for the past few months – was slowly drained of its water.

Nosing at the last trickle of water as it gurgled down the plug hole, ‘Emilia’ received her final check-up from the animal care specialist in charge of overseeing her health during her stay. Across the pup’s face flashed a look of what I thought might have been bewilderment. Perhaps I was just projecting? Afterall, today wasn’t the occasion for solemnity. Today, ‘Emilia’ was being released back into the waters off Cornwall. This was a day for celebration.

To mark the moment, a crowd of visitors gathered to watch as ‘Emilia’ was encouraged into a transport cage before being carefully placed into the back of the Sanctuary’s rescue vehicle. It was summer, and Gweek – this little civil parish in south Cornwall – had laid on the sunshine, more fitting for the occasion.

Positioned on a scenic creek along the Helford River, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary provides specialist care to sick and injured seals. Over the course of 50 years – since opening its doors in 1975 – the charity has rehabilitated and released over 1,300 seals. But the story of the Cornish Seal Sanctuary starts much earlier than that. In the winter of 1958, a Cornish couple named Ken and Mary Jones found a newborn seal pup washed up on the beach near their home in St. Agnes, on the north coast of Cornwall. Recognising that, separated from its mother – and at such a young age – the seal would never have survived on its own, the pair decided to take it back to their small cottage garden where they could care for it until it grew older and was able to fend for itself.

Word quickly spread about the couple’s kindness towards injured animals and soon enough, they were fielding all manner of calls from concerned citizens regarding wildlife in distress. The Joneses eventually decided to expand the care they offered, and for many years after Ken and Mary ran a small rescue centre on the north coast of Cornwall. Some 15 years later, the pair founded the Seal Sanctuary in Gweek where it has operated under that ethos ever since.

Their simple act of kindness transformed a personal passion for wildlife into a world-renowned facility that is now owned and operated by the global organisation, the SEA LIFE TRUST. Today the Seal Sanctuary has nursery pools, convalescent, rehabilitation, and resident pools alongside their specially designed hospital facility.

I follow the convoy of vehicles escorting ‘Emilia’ from the Sanctuary, along the narrow, winding Cornish lanes, and to a quiet beach near Penzance where a slipway awaits to provide us with easy access to the water’s edge. It’s here that ‘Emilia’ will be returned to her natural home. Several Seal Sanctuary staff are already here, ready to assist and help corral the gathering crowd of tourists as well as the two members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue who had first found and rescued the young pup all those months ago.