#tokkari center

[seasideseals]

tokkari center has confirmed that yo-chan 's baby is a female !

[mikeyonaise]

Rest in peace Shinobu-kun 🌻

Shinobu has passed away at 31 years old. Rest in heaven sweet boy ):

[brightlightsdeancity]

I can imagine anything

+ bonus (ft. a tweet by my friend)

[snufkinsong]

This is going to be a more serious post, about (yes) seals.

It is warming my heart to see so many people celebrating the birth of Yo's baby. She is the seal that made me fall in love with pinnipeds a few years ago, and she is also where I got my social media namesake on the godforsaken hellhole that is twitter. I hope some old twitter mutuals might see this and guess who I am haha (besides the friends who I've stayed in touch with beyond twt like @seaps who is the sweetest ever).

Anyways, for anyone who isn't familiar with Yo and her history, I am going to rehash and paraphrase/shorten my old "yo biography" that I put in a hidden page on my neocities website a while ago. She is a ringed seal who resides at the Okhotsk Tokkari Center, one of Japan's only marine mammal rehabilitation and rescue centers. Yo was rescued in Rausu town on May 3rd at the age of approximately one month and two weeks old at the beginning of the May of 2011. Like many rescued seals, she was found separated from her mother and needing care.

Yo's name was officially announced on September 5th, 2011, after accepting suggestions from July 22nd to August 21st. According to the Tokkari center website "The name comes from the idea that "we hope she grows up healthy like the sun."

I want you all to know that Yo has been a mama for a while now. Hikaru was born in 2018. Her keepers didn't know she was pregnant, but were surprised one day to find little Hikaru worming around on the floor as baby ringies do. Hikaru means "shining light."

"Hikaru, just as his name suggests, was a shining light to everyone and grew up to be very healthy."

She tragically lost her baby Hikaru in 2021. This letter in his memory is one of the things that solidified my appreciation for the caretakers at the Tokkari Center. You can also read about the details of his life and passing here.

It is titled

To Hikaru in heaven: A message from former zookeeper Masako Okazaki about the love nurtured between a seal and a human

The final words say:

My beloved Hikaru, thank you for being born.

I cannot speak to how much animals may feel grief. I hope Yo, as a seal, did not have to feel the pain of losing her baby as her caretakers and the people who grew familiar with Hikaru did. (If you would like to see videos of him, I highly recommend checking out the account of my insta mutual hakuhime_az. He loved to sing by making little hoo hoo noises. Yo made hoo hoo noises as a very small baby according to an old blog post I read, but Hikaru never grew out of it! Some Hikaru singing videos should be on her profile if you scroll enough!)

Nonetheless, it makes my heart warm to see Yo fiercely protecting her new pup this year. Seeing her able to raise another baby, I feel full. Just know that she has been a strong and feisty mom for a longer time than you might have thought :)

On that note, let's all enjoy the adorable videos and photos of her and her little baby, and please do not repost the videos and photos of photographers and videographers without permission. (Azara's typically have messages in their sns bios asking people not to do this)

I love animals and appreciating how they care for each other.

[mintaikk]

Thinking of the seal I sketched a couple months back in art class

[s0ur-w0rmzxd]

hilarious pictures of yo-chan the seal from tokkari center

[daybreaksys]

[froggyforest]

Yo-chan is finished!! 24 x 30 cm canvas, acrylic paint, sealed with varnish. 🦭🦭

[gomachan9]

Rest in peace, Ponsuke. Thank you for being you. The most charismatic seal, gone far too soon.

The many faces of Ponsuke, a ringed seal resident at Tokkari Centre in Hokkaido

[sealsdaily]

could I have a seal for my birthday today,, 👉👈

Birthday beast! Here's from Umi-kun's birthday a while ago.

[seasideseals]

yo-chan and her newborn ! ! ⊂⁠(⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠⊂⁠ ⁠)⁠*⁠.⁠✧

they're so cute...

[creds to tokkaricenter]

[gomachan9]

all photos from Tokkari Center, photo grid by me

I try to limit sad news on my blog as I know many who follow me do so to escape from the stress of real life, or are not in the best place mentally to deal with sad news. If you would like to know more about a sad loss within the seal community please continue reading. If not, please just enjoy this cute photo and may it bring you joy. <3

Recently we were all saddened to learn that Ponsuke who was a lifetime resident of Tokkari Center unexpectedly died from unknown causes as posted on the center's official Twitter account. If you would like to help honor Ponsuke, please reblog this post with your favorite photos, videos, or memories of him in memorial. Next week I will reblog this post, and encourage you to scroll through the reblogs and see the photos (or videos!) other blogs share of him between now and then. Sending love to you all. It's healthy to grieve, and alright to cry no matter who you are. I hope once time has passed and you may move past your sorrow and remember Ponsuke for the joy he has always been, and the smiles he brought to our faces.

[autiacorart]

seal twitter has christmas today because in japanese tokkari center aquarium new baby seal was born by a popular beloved Yo-chan, looooooook!!!!!!

[thalassata]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by オホーツクとっかりセンター　アザラシランド (@tokkaricenter_official)

new tokkari center baby is so cute

[err505]

Tokkari center ha5 confirmed Yo chan'5 baby i5 a girl and 5he i5 healthy.

5he tried to e5cape during her checkup.

[ociels]

hi i only followed u like last week but ur url is very similar to kyoro, a seal from the tokkari center in japan. she’s very cute and near and dear to my heart, so i just wanted to let you kno how amazing your name is. sorry if this comes off weird, i truly just really like seals

omg no it’s not weird i just looked her up and she’s really so so so so cute !!!!