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"Yulia Melnikova - a local prison worker from Magadan in Russia’s Far East - has taken in three orphaned seal pups, and turned her flat into a 'marine nursery' for the trio found off the Sea of Okhotsk coast. Footage filmed on Tuesday shows locals bringing boxes containing the rescued pups into Melnikova’s home, as well as staff from the rehabilitation centre for marine mammals feeding soup to the animals. Melnikova revealed that one of the pups had a fever when it was found: "Their normal body temperature should be the same as a human’s - around 37°C. We spent nearly an entire day trying to bring the fever down." "We can only hope that volunteers will come forward to help us learn more and assist in raising them," she added. Yulia Fadeeva, a specialist at the rehabilitation centre, described the special diet required for the young seals. "The first feeding stage lasts around 10 days and involves liquid food delivered through a feeding tube - a silicone tube inserted directly into the stomach. Nutritious fish soup is then poured into the tube using a funnel. Later, they will move on to small fish, then larger ones, gradually gaining weight," the woman explained. According to Fadeeva, the pups were likely separated from their mother due to an unusually warm winter, which caused the sea ice to break up nearly a month earlier than usual. Experts from the Magadan branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography have urged locals not to approach seals on the shore, warning that attempts to touch or feed them can harm the animals and put them at risk."
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