4 newborn seal pups rescued in B.C.

Four newborn seal pups - some with their umbilical cords still attached - are being cared for by the Vancouver Aquarium, after being rescued from B.C. shores on Tuesday.

• On mobile? Click here for raw video of the four rescued pups
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B.C. resident MarkLevagood and his daughter saw one of the exhausted seal pupsstruggling to get onto a rock on OgdenPoint in Victoria.

The male pup, which has been named Tantalum by volunteers, wasairlifted to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, where it is now recovering.

Manager Lindsaye Akhurstsaid the seal pup is doing fairly well, but had been through a lot before being rescued.

"The seal came in really thin, dehydrated, obviously hadn't been eating from its mom for a while and had been hanging around a really busyarea...and the mom was nowhere to be found," said Akhurst.

Another of the pups, a male sealnow namedNobellium,was found offHadden Beach, anoff-leash dog park inVancouver'sKitsilanoneighbourhood. Again, the motherwas nowhere to be seen.

On mobile? Click here to see Nobellium being rescued on YouTube

"We did notice that there was no mom around and the animal was getting quite lethargic, beaching itself at that point, and had some sort of sight issues," said Akhurst.

"We went down to monitor the seal and found out it was really skinny and it did need to be rescued."

A femaleseal pup, now named Oxygen,was also rescued in the Mosquito Creek areaof North Vancouverand another male seal pup, now named Molybdenum,was rescued from Gibsons, on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast.

• On mobile? Click here to see a photogallery of the four rescued seals

Akhurst said 41 seal pups have been rescued over the past month, as pups often become separated from their mothers at this time of year.

"Sometimes it's first-time moms andthey don't know what to do. Sometimes it is a tidal change," said Akhurst.

"The pups do go on the beaches to rest while the mom goes out and forages. When she comes back, maybe the pups have moved, maybe the tide has come in or out so she is unable to find them."

Akhurst advises anyone who seesa marine mammal in distress to stay back, keep people and pets away and callthe Marine Mammal Rescue Centre at 604-258-SEAL (7325).