NEWS AND OPINION
Location: Waxham beach on the northeast Norfolk coast.
A seal pup was spotted by a photographer walking on the beach. Her name is not disclosed in The Times overtly but I believe that she is Rachel Rickett.
She telpehoned the Friends of Horsey Seals, a charity. They turned up rapidly it seems and Sarah Butler, a member of their rescue team, said:
“It was quite shocking. Fortunately, I have a little spade on my truck so we managed to dig it out a little bit and then managed to pull it out of the sand.”
The tide was due to come in but also fortunately the rescuers had time to free the pup. It was lucky that the photographer spotted the seal in daylight.
Thirteen pups have been rescued from the sea defences last year.
Butler added that: “When you get high tides and big concrete sea defences these pups have nowhere to go.”
The Environment Agency said that “We are regularly reviewing how to reduce flood risk to communities while still protecting wildlife.”
The rescued pup must remain on land for a few weeks The Times reports in order to moult and grow his waterproof adult coat.
Five thousand seal pups have been born on the five mile stretch between Waxham and Winterton according to the Friends of Horsey Seals.
The charity has seen many pups “washed up and down the coast” due to high winds and tides.
The charity says that individuals should not try and rescue seals but contact the charity instead.
