sEal Rescue Ireland Tours

1 Hour “Seal Feed and
Enrichment” Experience

This experience is seasonal and depends on having seals in care. Advanced booking is required for visits. Suitable for adults and children aged 13+ (participants under the age of 18 years must be accompanied by a participating adult)

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About the tour

Tour overview

  • 1 hour experience
  • €30.00 per person (must be over 13 years old and with an adult)
  • Group size: Maximum 6 person per time slot
  • Seal Rescue Ireland Visitor Centre – Courtown, Co. Wexford

The Seal Feed and Enrichment Experience is 1 hour in total. It begins with an enhanced educational talk about our rehabilitation centre, the importance and details of Ireland’s seal species, the threats they face in our waters and how you can help!

Then, you’ll get behind the scenes access for a tour of the hospital, where you’ll get the chance to assist our animal care team to prepare feeds and other enrichment items to keep our seals happy, healthy, and mentally stimulated in our care. At the rehabilitation pools, you’ll be able to feed our seals, watch them dive and compete for fish, and see them develop the skills needed to thrive in the wild! Our Seal Feed and Enrichment Experience allows you to directly interact with the seal pups while learning about and engaging in amazing conservation practices. It’s an incredible outdoor activity at the only seal rescue in the Republic of Ireland, where you’ll make unforgettable memories.

Special Offer: Receive €5.00 off a seal adoption(s) of your choice for participating.

**This experience is seasonal and depends on having seals in care.** 

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Please note – we are usually very busy during weekends, and holidays so advanced booking is recommended!

For all booking queries please call our Office: 053 942 4980 (During Office Hours 9-5.00)

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Testimonials

What people are saying about us

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  • Lovely staff—made the children feel welcome. Highly informative tour. They took the time to answer our questions. Almost forgot to mention the seals: very cute; great to see them in a good home while they get well again. https://g.co/kgs/Rxu7siw

    Ronan – Local Guide

    – October | 2023

  • This is one of those places that makes a forever mark in your soul. The seal carers are so passionate about their work that makes you feel that you want to be part of their mission to make their habitat a better place. It was great for a family and it is so well run and simple at the same time. 

    Armando Pardo

    – October | 2023

  • The rescuer for a day program is an amazing, worthwhile experience! I learned a lot about seals and it was awesome to work alongside them. The team at SRI is so knowledgeable and hard working. I hope to do the RFAD program again during my next visit to Ireland. https://g.co/kgs/nHTtGHG

    Lily McMillan – Google Reviews

    – March | 2024

  • A unique experience of its kind, we visited the center and participated as rescuers for a day. The girl who guided us and accompanied us on this day (unfortunately I don’t remember her name) was very good, there were many fun moments, with lots of laughter, and many very interesting moments. We learned many things about seals that we completely ignored before this experience. It’s nice to know that there are people who care for these poor animals in difficulty. As for the rescuer for a day experience, be prepared to get dirty, if you are squeamish it’s not for you, you will have to handle a lot of fish, clean the pools etc… at the end of the day we also adopted two seals hoping to further help the center. To conclude, it was one of those days that I will tell everyone about and I will certainly recommend the experience to all my tourist friends who come to Ireland

    Constantino Passaro – Google Review

    – March | 2024

Tour FAQ’s

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Where are you located?

    We are based in Courtown Co. Wexford. Our Eircode is Y25 PD92.

    Travelling by car is easy, you can find us after Exit 23 on the M11, then follow signs to Courtown. In Courtown we are located beside the Active Tribe Swimming pool near Courtown Harbour .

  • What are the costs of your tours?
    • M30 Minute Guided Educational Tour: €10 for Adults and €8 for children under 5 (younger children under 5 are free).arketing
    • Our Seal Feed and EnrichmentExperience:  €30 Per Person
    • Our Rescuer for the Day Experience: €90 Per person (Must be 13+ years of age to participate and those under 18 years must be accompanied by an adult. The fee for guardians supervising participants under 18 years that are not participating themselves, is €35.)
    • We have reduced rates at 50% off for people with an intellectual disability and carers who accompany are free.
    • For group rates for schools, community groups ,and larger visitor numbers, visit our schools & groups booking page
  • Why do the public pay for tours?

    Touring with us means you are directly supporting the seal patients in our care! As a non profit we depend on the funding from tours, it is vital for the survival of our rescue and rehabilitation operation. Our Seal Rescue is getting busier and busier year to year.  Not only are seals continuing to face threats, and injury, but awareness of our services has grown! Without public support, we would not be able to provide the vital rescue service, and rehabilitation care needed to bring rescue seals back to health, so they can have a second chance at life in the wild.

  • Why is advanced booking required?

    Thank you for your interest in visiting our centre! Please read important information below:

    We are primarily a Seal Rescue Centre-the health and welfare of the seals in our care is our first priority. Alongside our rescue and rehabilitation efforts we are always striving to maximise our impact in the work that we do.  Educational programming at our centre carried out within careful parameters while maintaining a calm environment for the seal pups in care, is an effective  way to further the goals of conservation.  We want to ensure that we are doing all that we can to create a sustainable future for Ireland’s seals and all wildlife. Every pup in our care can help tell a story, illustrating first-hand the impact of water pollution, climate change, unsustainable fishing, habitat loss, and disturbance. 

    Booking is required for visits: as a rescue centre rehabilitating seal pups for return to the wild it is important that we carefully control the flow of visitors to our centre. We must always prioritize the welfare of the seals in our care and carefully assess their condition and behaviour prior to approving any visits. As such visit availability will vary depending on these factors in terms of the number of people allowed on site per day and the number of tour times available.

    We are a working Rescue Centre, we are different from a Zoo or Sanctuary: we operate a busy rescue centre where our goal for every seal rescued is rehabilitation and release back to the wild. We have no permanent residents. Our visits are designed to help the public engage with the topics of marine conservation, sustainability and to learn about wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. All the seals in our care are wild animals, while some seals in care may be observed, they are not trained, we interact with them minimally and no direct contact with them is permitted for visitors.

    The number of seals in care that may be observed will vary: the number of seals in our care varies throughout the year. We rescue seal pups so we will be busiest during the peak of pupping seasons and the month or two following this peak. While the number of seals in care may vary, the number of seals that may be observed will vary further as it is dependent on their health condition, behaviour and stage of rehabilitation. This means that it is possible that only 1-2 seals in care may be able to be observed during a visit.

  • What should I wear?

    Please wear weather appropriate clothing. The majority of our facilities are outdoors, and are gravelled but can get mucky so please wear good footwear.

  • Can we hold a seal?

    We would never recommend holding or touching seals as they are wild animals and can bite, when they feel threatened or in pain. Their mouths also have nasty bacteria in them, if you are bitten it can lead to dangerous infection!  However, the benefit of our Rescue Tour is that you can get closer than is usually recommended in the wild, as our seals are safely inside our enclosures, and kennels! If you book one of our experiences, you get even closer to our seals behind the scenes at the seal enclosures and hospital, under the supervision and safe instruction of our Animal Care Team.

  • Can we feed a seal?

    If you book one of our Seal Feed and Enrichment Experiences, or our Rescuer for a Day Experience you will get to feed
    the seals! The seals are on a special diet, and are given a certain weight of fish every day to ensure they grow healthy
    and strong. We even add vitamins and medicine if they are needed! During the Experience bookings, you can help us
    to prepare the feeds. During these special experiences we coordinate your experience to fit in with the seals usual feeding times. Seal feeding experiences are restricted to individuals 13 years of age and older. Participants 13-18 years old must be accompanied by a participating guardian who also partakes in the experience.

  • Why do you allow the public to tour inside your Seal Rescue?

    Tours of Seal Rescue Ireland allow us to engage with the public to inspire them to care about, and protect our native seal species, and the coastal areas they inhabit! A lot of seals are in care, are there due to man-made threats such as disturbance, water pollution, entanglement from plastics and netting, and non-sustainable fishing practices. So letting people know how they can help to reduce these threats is of great importance! When people visit and pay for their tour, they are directly supporting the, rescue, care, medical needs, food and rehabilitation of the seals, until they are ready for release!

30 Minute Guided Tour of Seal Rescue Ireland

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