We’ve all heard the saying “Not all who wonder are lost,” but for this grey seal, there are no excuses. He’s definitely just plain lost.
In northern England, a woman was walking her dog when she unexpectedly came across a large grey seal. Well, that’s no biggie, right? People walk along the beach all the time, so seeing a seal can’t be that surprising.
Actually, the seal itself isn’t the surprising part … it’s the fact that the seal had managed to waddle about 20 miles away from his home in the Irish Sea. Usually, grey seals can be found in lying with their colonies on the rocky coastlines of the United Kingdom. Exhausted, the seal had apparently become a little too adventurous and found his way into an inland field using a local river.
According to John Brooks, an inspector from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “This is the first time I have ever come across a seal in a field. There is a brook nearby but that is only about three feet deep. If he followed the rivers and tributaries he could’ve traveled as far as 20 miles from the sea.”
With the help of a few firefighters, police, farmers, and animal rescue groups, the seal was loaded into an RSPCA trailer. Frightened and tired, the animal was apparently not too happy about it either as he apparently snapped at a couple of his rescuers.
BBC
Rescuer Steve Marsh, a member of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Service, said, “It’s not an easy job certainly because they are large animals. They can be quite aggressive and we do have people in our charity that can actually handle those large seals.”
Still, the workers knew they needed to get the marine mammal medical attention stat as the seal had sustained an injury to his head somewhere along his journey. The grey seal is currently recovering at the RSPCA hospital and will be released into his natural habitat when his injuries are taken care of.
Image source: Liverpool Echo/The Telegraph
