This beautiful birthday boy got the best gift a seal could ask for; a birthday cake made out of ice and fish!
The adorable seal, named Yulelogs, recently celebrated his 31st birthday and naturally, all his friends wanted to make sure that it was a day to remember.
Normally, male grey seals don’t tend to live past 25, but Yulelogs is an energetic, happy, and feisty senior.
Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, England, shared photos of Yulelogs enjoying the treat on Facebook.
The Sanctuary wrote:
Wishing our gorgeous boy Yulelogs a very happy 31st birthday today! The team have spoilt him with an amazing ice fish cake which as you can see he very much enjoyed!
Yulelogs is a firm favourite with both our team and guests. He was originally rescued in 1989 by a marine park in the north of England, when the park closed down Yulelogs was released back into the wild. However as he had spent such a long time in captivity, he had no idea how to feed himself and had become too used to humans.
Three months after his release, Yulelogs was rescued by the RSPCA after concerned members of the public reported that he was chasing people with buckets on the beach as he believed they contained fish.
When he was rescued, he weightled only 60kg as opposed to the stand 250kg. It was apparent he needed care so the RSPCA asked if the Sanctuary could provide him with a permanent home and the rest is history!
He is a very energetic and enthusiastic seal, especially when it comes to his husbandry training and environmental enrichment.
The seal was just a little pup when he was taken in by a marine park in 1989 and he spent several years living at the park as part of their exhibit on Grey seals.
This birthday was quite a milestone for Yulelogs and the whole sanctuary as well, since in the wild, male grey seals tend to live to be around 25 years old.
To mark this milestone, the team of Cornish Seal Sanctuary surprised Yulelogs with a giant cake filled with fish.
Georgina Shannon, the marketing and media coordinator for the sanctuary, told The Dodo:
Yulelogs absolutely loved his birthday cake. It’s a great form of enrichment for him also, as it requires a bit of thinking on how to get the fish out of the cake!
After four years, the park closed the exhibit and decided to release Yulelogs into the wild.
However, after having spent so much time in captivity, Yulelogs was not ready to take care of himself.
He was used to people just handing him treats, and he began chasing after people holding buckets on the beach because he assumed the buckets were filled with tasty fish.
The RSPCA received reports about the hungry seal chasing confused beach-goers and promptly contacted the Seal Sanctuary for help.
And so, after a mere three months on his own, Yulelogs moved into the Cornish Seal Sanctuary and has been happily munching on their fish ever since.
Yulelogs loves his comfy life at the sanctuary, and when he received his fishy birthday cake the chubby boy was ecstatic; he grinned as wide as he could and positively shone with joy and excitement.
The birthday cake was not only a tasty treat but also doubled as a brain-teaser and Yulelogs had an absolute blast trying to figure out how to best get access to the delicious fish.
“It’s a great form of enrichment for him also as it requires a bit of thinking on how to get the fish out of the cake!” a staff member at the sanctuary explained to The Dodo.
All in all, it was the best birthday Yulelogs could have asked for, and we’re sure he’s already looking forward to next year’s celebrations.
The sweet seal has won many hearts both IRL and online.
