By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

 When Stef first arrived at the University of New England, her shrieking cries for food echoed across campus at night.

A month later, she has settled into her new home at the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center and is developing a taste for fish.

Stef, rescued within hours of birth, is the first harp seal pup to receive treatment at the center, located on the university’s Biddeford campus. Animal Care Technician Shannon Prendiville said Stef is the center’s “media superstar.”

Stef, named after a character in the movie “The Goonies,” was rescued 14 hours after she was born in a cove in the Knox County town of Spruce Head. The Maine Department of Marine Resources brought her to the center after her mother slipped into the water and did not return.

When she arrived in Biddeford, Stef was “an adorable white ball of fur,” Prendiville said. She has since lost her first coat and is now gray and black. She said harp seals generally give birth to their pups on ice floes off the Canadian coast.

“The fact we’re seeing a young pup this far down is unusual,” said Emily Mercker, a water quality and animal care technician.

Marine scientists at the center are investigating whether Stef’s location could be a sign of global climate change or if it is because the presence of harp seals is increasingly common on Maine shores in winter.

“The February ice extent in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence tied 2005 for a record low, suggesting that the preferred birthing location for harp seals is much smaller than in previous years. It would make sense that they would tend to seek out other locations for birthing,” said Charles Tilburg, assistant professor in the Department of Marine Sciences.

The Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center, a division of the university’s Marine Science Education and Research Center, is part of a network of centers authorized by the National Marine Fisheries Service to rescue and rehabilitate marine mammals and sea turtles. The center also works to develop the most effective rehabilitation methods and researches the cause of marine mammal mortality and state of the marine environment.

When stranded or injured animals are brought to the center, they undergo an intake exam that includes taking a blood sample and administering fluids, if needed. Veterinarians, staff and volunteers assess the animals and develop a rehabilitation plan with the goal of returning the animal to its natural habitat, Prendiville said.

“Hopefully they’ll be healthy and happy and can be released” after treatment, Mercker said.

To keep animals wild, staff and volunteers do as little hands-on work with them as possible, Prendiville said. The center often treats harbor seal pups, who are fed formula, then a “fish milkshake” through a feeding tube before moving on to solid fish.

The formula, designed to help seal pups gain weight, includes cottage cheese, heavy cream, cod liver oil, soybean oil, puppy milk replacement and vitamins. Because Stef needs five times as many calories as harbor seals, the staff began adding a quarter-stick of melted butter to each bottle of formula she ate.

“That’s when we really started to see the increase in body weight. She gained 2 to 4 pounds per day,” Prendiville said. “We had been racking our brains to figure out how to get that many calories into such a little body.”

Prendiville said Stef was “obsessed” with her bottle but is now being fed fish to prepare her for reentry into her natural habitat. There are still times Stef seems more interested in swimming and diving than eating fish, she said.

“When she first came in, she was a hungry, whiney little baby,” Mercker said.

“Her screams sounded like an old woman who had her purse stolen,” Prendiville added.

Prendiville said there is nothing quite like arriving at the center early in the morning to Stef’s screams.

“That makes you get the food ready fast,” she said.

Mercker said staff and volunteers have discovered Stef is spunky and very curious.

“She is a little firecracker,” Prendiville said. “She hates us, which for a rehab pup is the best indicator she’ll do well after release.”

While she currently is in an isolation room with her own pool, Stef is not alone at the center.

Prendiville said the center is fairly busy for this time of year. The center currently is treating four adult harp seals, three juvenile harbor seals and six Kemp’s ridley turtles. Two juvenile harp seals were released last Saturday.

On Monday morning, a porpoise rescued earlier in the month in Saugus, Mass., died unexpectedly. Prendiville said staff thought the porpoise was a good candidate for rehabilitation and seemed fine in the days and hours before she was found floating on her side in her pool. A veterinarian will examine the porpoise this week to see if a cause of death can be determined.

 “This is a shock to the system for all of us this morning,” Prendiville said hours after the porpoise died.

Prendiville and Mercker said it often is difficult when an animal dies, but staff and volunteers have to learn to have a thick skin.

 “We can’t fall over and cry. We have to keep going and care for everyone else,” Prendiville said. “We learn from the experience.”

Mercker, who began volunteering in 2005 and was hired in 2009, said the center offers a unique opportunity for students to get hands-on work experience on campus. She chose the university because it is the only school with a similar rehabilitation center on campus.

Steph Marshall, a 21-year-old senior from Rhode Island, said she also chose the school because of the center. She began volunteering four years ago.

 “This facility is what brought me to UNE. It’s hard to come by a place where you can gain hands-on experience while on campus,” she said.

Megan Welcome, a 21-year-old senior from Vermont, began working at the center because she thought “it would be great to get a little work experience before making career decisions.” She said she enjoys the challenge of learning lab work and how to assist on procedures. She also finds adult seals entertaining because of their aggressive personalities.

 “It’s really rewarding to have an animal that comes in really sick and to see it released later,” she said.

Marshall, who said she especially enjoys working with porpoises and turtles, spent Monday afternoon feeding Stef fish tied to a string. While washing out a food bucket after Stef was done eating, she said she enjoys the time she spends at the center.

 “I love going home at the end of the day knowing I’m helping these animals live a better life,” Marshall said. “It’s a good feeling.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.