Caring for seals and the Wadden Sea: Multispecies entanglements in seal rehabilitation
AbstractThe Wadden Sea is a busy environment in which multiple species share a limited space. Humans use the area for recreation and economic purposes, while it also represents an ecologically valuable space as one of the largest intertidal areas in the world. Sharing the Wadden Sea with multiple species is recognized as a challenge by a seal rehabilitation center in the Netherlands, who cares for seals and their habitat, the Wadden Sea. To diminish harmful effects of human-seal interactions, the seal rehabilitation center educates their visitors to care for the Wadden Sea through at least three different educational practices (seal releases, beach cleanups, and through an exhibition at the visitor center). By taking a relational perspective to analyze these educational moments, it becomes apparent that different “natures” are brought into being. That is, by creating different experiences in multiple circumstances, relations between what is experienced or enacted as being part of the Wadden Sea environment changes. An important focus in this article is the diverse positions humans take up in relation to the Wadden Sea as they are encouraged to care for it and the seals. Instead of taking a human and nature distinction as a starting point, I will show that these educational practices produce fluid and dynamic relations between “humans” and “nature,” enabling multiple engagements with the sea and those who inhabit it.