Artificially fed gray seal pup makes public debut

A female gray seal pup bred through artificial feeding was displayed to public for the first time on Tuesday in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province. It is the first successful case in China for a gray seal to be artificially bred.

"The little gray seal lacked nutrition and her life was in danger after it was born because the mother could not feed her breast milk," according to a source with Qingdao Haichang Ocean Park, where the pup was born late March.

Breeders in the park decided to use artificial feeding to save its life.

"We have chosen the best milk powder and food to ensure that only high-quality products were used," said one of the breeders who provided his surname Wang.

"We blended milk powder and fish paste in different proportions in order to find the taste that was as close to breast milk as possible," Wang said, adding that a milk powder with high calorie, high fat and no sugar was selected among hundreds of brands.

The next step, which was the most difficult, was to make the little gray seal as comfortable as possible before feeding her through a tube into her mouth, Wang said.

Thanks to the around the clock care of breeders in the past month, the pup is growing in healthy condition.

Gray seals are rarely seen in China as they are mostly found in North Atlantic Ocean.