Fisherman accidentally catches baby seal
· Yahoo NewsA fisherman has accidentally caught a grey seal pup in his net – 20 miles up river from the coast.
The angler was in a rowing boat on the River Bure near Horning, on the Norfolk Broads, when the seal went after a fish on Boxing Day.
Both the seal and the fish ended up in the net before the fisherman called a rescue charity for help.
The significantly underweight seal was saved by Friends of Horsey Seals, a wildlife charity, and taken to the RSPCA.
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The pup, now named Sunshine, is likely to have come from Sea Palling near Horsey Gap, which is home to one of the largest colonies of grey seals in the UK.
Pup ‘recovering well’
Around 3,000 pups are born each season, but Friends of Horsey Seals said this was “one of the strangest seal rescue stories of the year”.
A spokesman said: “Horning is 18km, or more than a five-hour walk, from Sea Palling. The chances are that the seal didn’t come over land.
“Instead, it probably swam up the River Bure from Great Yarmouth to land in Horning. The distance from Great Yarmouth to Horning by river is 20 miles.
“The startled fisherman was fishing from a rowing boat, caught a fish, went to land the fish, when the seal appeared and also went for the same fish. The fisherman ended up with both the fish and the seal in his keep net, at which point he called our rescue number.”
The seal pup weighed 12kg – most pups of its age should be between 30kg and 45kg – but is said to be recovering well.