Moment seal pup rescued from Cornwall beach

  • Rescuers carried out a first-aid check on the seal when they arrived at Porthminster Beach, in St Ives

A seal pup has been rescued from a beach in Cornwall after being spotted in distress.

Volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue were called to Porthminster Beach, in St Ives, at 6pm on Thursday 4 April, after reports of a young seal stranded on the beach.

Damian Todres, who was visiting St Ives with his family from Bath, called the rescue team after spotting the seal "struggling" on the shore.

"I saw a tiny figure in the surf, and realised it was a baby seal," he said. "It was trying to pull itself on the beach, and was heading towards a crowd of tourists."

"It looked exhausted and was coughing," he added.

The seal was spotted on Porthminster Beach in St Ives.

Once they arrived, rescuers carried out a first aid check on the pup, which they believe to be around five months old.

The young seal was then removed from Porthminster Beach to be released back into the sea at a quieter location further round the coast.

Alison Davey, Assistant area co-ordinator and medic for British Divers Marine Life Rescue said she was "grateful" for the way people on the beach responded.

Rescuers thanked the public for staying away from the seal.

"People were brilliant at keeping themselves, dogs and children away from the seal," she said. "That is a gift for us as it means it was still in the same place and hadn't been chased back into the sea, which is the worst-case scenario."

She added: “We did his breathing rate and could see it was slightly elevated so we carried out a full assessment to make sure there was nothing else wrong with him.

“His temperature was slightly high but luckily we couldn’t find any wounds."

Rescuers carried out a first aid check on the seal.

Ms Davey said they will now take the seal pup to a quiet place to be released into the sea.

"We will also mark him, so if he is found again over the next few days we will be able to recognise him and weigh him," she said.

"This means if he has lost weight, we will know there is a problem and take him into our seal hospital in Mid-Cornwall.

Chris Webber, another marine medic involved in the rescue, added: “He was in pretty good health, but it is always good to take seals away from the public to a quieter location.

"This means he'll hopefully go into the water by himself.”