Seal Rescued After Being Found Heading Towards Cars, Likely Spooked by Dog

An injured seal pup was rescued after being spotted in a resort town in England heading towards a road filled with cars.

A member of the public came across the grey seal pup, thought to be between 4 and 5 weeks old, in Great Yarmouth on the country's east coast on Wednesday.

After finding the seal, the individual notified local nonprofit Marine and Wildlife Rescue, which specializes in helping seals, birds of prey, garden birds, waterfowl, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals that need assistance.

"This evening we were called to [Great Yarmouth] by a concerned member of the public, they'd seen this grey seal pup making off along the path towards the road," the charity said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"They sensibly stopped it from doing so and waited with it until we arrived."

The charity said the grey seal pup is weaned, underweight and had fresh bite wounds on its abdomen.

"There had been a commotion on the beach prior to the seal pup appearing up on the promenade," the charity said.

According to the charity, there was no space at the nearest wildlife hospital, so officials simply relocated the pup to a safer area.

"With no hospital space, and a chance the pup can hopefully carry on undisturbed with life, we relocated it to a quiet area to rest and hopefully be on its way soon."

Dan Goldsmith from the charity told the BBC that the seal pup had probably been spooked after being attacked by a dog.

"We think there was an incident with a dog on the beach, which spooked the seal up the walkway."

He said the pup should "be OK" despite its wounds. Goldsmith praised the actions of the member of the public, saying they had done well to keep the pup away from the road by shooing it into a washing-up bowl.

"It had been much closer to the road than it is in the photo," he said.

Goldsmith said his charity had received an "unprecedented" number of call-outs this pupping season.

"More and more seals are coming to Great Yarmouth—there's a habitat near the harbour where they are undisturbed. There are more seals being born each year, but also because of the storms and tides there has been a lot of displacement of them."

"We had nowhere near as many call-outs this time last year, and the season's far from over."