THERE WILL be celebrations in Curracloe this weekend as a special visitor to our shores will be released back into his natural habitat.

The little seal ' Wally' was by some distance the first whitecoat pup of the season in Ireland when he was spotted on the shore on the North Slob at Wexford's Wildfowl Reserve by Josh and Shane Carberry late last July.

They alerted the Irish Seal Sanctuary, whose local representative, Kevin McCormack, went down to investigate and was very surprised to find the pup, who was two or three days old.

His umbilical cord was still attached and he had no teeth, which is very rare as the pups are usually born with sharp little teeth, leading Kevin to believe he may have been born prematurely to a seal off the Co. Wexford coast.

Before Wally arrived on the scene the earliest recorded arrival of a grey seal pup on shore had been late August.

The special visitor to Wexford's shore was named after Wall-E (the waste collecting robot who starred in this year's hit animation where he inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind) by Kevin's three-yearold niece Emma Halligan.

He was then transferred to and cared for at the Irish Seal Sanctuary at Garristown, Co. Dublin, where he has made great strides over the past couple of months.

'Wally is fit and raring to go and will be released at Culletons' Gap this Sunday, October 12 at 3 p.m.,' said Kevin McCormack, who expects great celebrations as he makes his way home.

The little seal ' Wally' was by some distance the first whitecoat pup of the season in Ireland when he was spotted on the shore on the North Slob at Wexford's Wildfowl Reserve by Josh and Shane Carberry late last July.

They alerted the Irish Seal Sanctuary, whose local representative, Kevin McCormack, went down to investigate and was very surprised to find the pup, who was two or three days old.

His umbilical cord was still attached and he had no teeth, which is very rare as the pups are usually born with sharp little teeth, leading Kevin to believe he may have been born prematurely to a seal off the Co. Wexford coast.

Before Wally arrived on the scene the earliest recorded arrival of a grey seal pup on shore had been late August.

The special visitor to Wexford's shore was named after Wall-E (the waste collecting robot who starred in this year's hit animation where he inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind) by Kevin's three-yearold niece Emma Halligan.

He was then transferred to and cared for at the Irish Seal Sanctuary at Garristown, Co. Dublin, where he has made great strides over the past couple of months.

'Wally is fit and raring to go and will be released at Culletons' Gap this Sunday, October 12 at 3 p.m.,' said Kevin McCormack, who expects great celebrations as he makes his way home.