- St. Mary’s Island, England -
On New Year’s Day a member of the public spotted a seal pup trapped between rocks at St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.
As you can see from the pictures, the sweet little face of the baby pup was sticking out of the rocks waiting for someone to save him.
The Good Samaritan alerted the staff at the lighthouse who then called in St Mary’s Seal Watch (SMSW).
Volunteers rushed to the scene.
They wrapped a blanket around the adorable baby seal’s face and jaw to reduce stress to the young mammal and to stop him from biting the volunteers.
A spokesperson from SMSW said: "Even at this young age seals are very heavy and have extremely sharp teeth and give a nasty and dangerous bite. We couldn’t just pull it out as this could result in injury to either the seal or us."
The volunteers put a plan in place to stop the seal from sinking any further into the hole, and then they gently lifted him out.
Once rescued, the pup was first examined by British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), and then released back into the sea.
"Normally when seals appear stuck, they will manage to get themselves out, but this poor thing was well and truly trapped,” said a spokesperson from SMSW.
A spokesperson from SMSW also said: "It is likely that having been spooked and attempting to get across the rocks from where it was resting that young pup misjudged the hole it was trying to cross and slid backwards. When found, it was facing up with just its head out of the hole.”
"We regularly warn of the risk to seals when they are spooked as a result of disturbance and how their erratic and unpredictable movements when in a panic can result in injury.
"Luckily this little one was spotted early and with volunteers on site we were able to rescue it swiftly."
Thank you all for saving this baby.
