An endangered seal released back into the wild

Evi the seal pup has been released back into the sea

Location: Gyaros, Greece

The endangered Mediterranean monk seal was found on a beach

on the island of Evia when she was seven days old

Experts say she was probably thrown on shore

and separated from her mother due to bad weather

(SOUNDBITE)(English) HELLENIC SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF THE MONK SEAL (MOm), SPOKESMAN DIMITRIS TSIAKALOS SAYING:

"Because there is no way to replace, to replenish the mother's milk so we have certain protocol and food regiments that we provide and other food supplements to the seal, and thankfully in the first few weeks she showed signs of - her health status became better."

Mediterranean monk seals number only in the hundreds

with about 300-400 being in Greece

(SOUNDBITE)(English) HELLENIC SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF THE MONK SEAL (MOm), SPOKESMAN DIMITRIS TSIAKALOS SAYING:"Now we are hoping that she will connect with the rest of the seals because that is where she belongs. We are really sad to see her go obviously because we have been with her for four months, we fed her during the night, we had to feed her four times a day, so it was a long process, it was hard for everyone, because we had to take shifts that were really tiring for everyone, but we are hoping that now she is in a better place with the rest of the seals and we hope that soon she will have her own babies and contribute to the rest of the population basically."