The heartwarming moment grey seal pups are released back into the wild

The moment four grey seal pups return to the wild after months of rehabilitation

Four grey seal pups have been released back into the wild, after months of rehabilitation, by staff at The Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay.

Affectionately named by keepers after games; Cluedo, Monopoly, Risk and Frogger were all found along the north Wales coastline.

The pups were less than a month old, in poor health, and had all been separated from their mothers.

All four were considerably underweight, and were initially taken into care by the RSPCA.

Peter Litherland, Animal Collections Manager at the Welsh Mountain Zoo, said the charity put in "a lot of hard work."

"They feed them on a milk substitute, and to do that you need two or three people, it's quite difficult.

"They do all of the hard work for us which we're very grateful for, and then they come to us when they're eating whole fish."

Thanks to Peter and his colleagues at the Welsh Mountain Zoo these pups have been eating up to 7kgs of fish a day.

Now at a healthy weight of around 40kgs it’s time for them to be sent on their way.

The Zoo's expert keepers carefully transported the pups to the beach at Penrhyn Bay, and encouraged them to begin their first solo swim since being rescued.

"They've never seen the sea before", said Peter.

"It's all brand new, but they seem to settle down, and it's not unusual after about twenty minutes to see them coming up with fish.

"It's all instinct", he said.

"It's bred into them. If they want to survive they've good food out there, and they should do well."

The Welsh Mountain Zoo is recognised as a centre of excellence for the welfare and rehabilitation of seal pups.

It's a bittersweet moment for keepers to say goodbye, but these pups are now ready to take on the world.