Where's Henry?

Henry the sea lion, who is frequently seen at Holdfast Shores and around Adelaide beaches has his own website. Anybody who wants to find out about him or seals and sea lions will be able to click on his website and learn about him and his world.

From Christmas 2007 until February 2008, Henry had been losing weight and vomiting intermittently. While this is not unusual for wild sea lions, if 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 to discuss what could be done to ensure that Henry was healthy. 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 we had to make sure that any decisions were based on the best data and opinion available to us," said Dr Deb Kelly, Manager of the Animal Welfare Unit of DEH. "Normally, we tend to adopt a non-interventionist policy with wildlife. That is they are wild animals that will live and die without out interference and the less we interfere the better. But some individual animals, like Henry, have such place in the hearts of South Australians that we feel obliged to intervene – both because the public expect us to do so and because he is special to us too."

In mid February 2008 Henry was anaethetised 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. All the test results have come in and, it would seem that Henry is a fairly normal middle aged male sea lion. He does have some microfilaria in his blood but they are common parasites of pinnipeds and do not require treatment. On 15 February, there was blood in his faeces, but the sample taken on 19 February was clear. It is quite likely that he has a healing ulcer in his digestive tract perhaps caused by human feeding. On 15 February, a sample of Henry’s urine sample was collected from the pavement. This tested positive for blood but, it is entirely possible that the blood was on the ground, not in Henry’s urine at all. So, apart from being a little bit skinny, as far as the tests are able to tell us, Henry is a normal, middle aged, basically healthy sea lion. At this stage, no further treatment is required and no other tests will be done. When the batteries in the tracker go flat, he may be anaesthetised to remove it (the glue holding it on is very firm so the fur will have to be trimmed to take it off) in which case some tests may be repeated – depending on how he is at the time. But right now, the news is all good!

To ensure that Henry was feeding on his natural diet, not just on the human foods he was given or found, the team decided to glue a radio tracking device on him while he was asleep. This allowed his movements to be tracked for the next 45 days until the batteries ran out.

Dr Kelly explained "Because Henry is so popular, we thought that the public might like to track his movements as well – so we have created Henry’s own website."

henrythesealion.com contains the data provided by the satellite tracker and depth gauge 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 has photos and numerous links for anyone who wants to learn more about these fascinating animals and about the conservation of our coast and marine ecosystems.