A surprised fisherman hooked an unlikely catch the day after Christmas when he netted a lost seal 20 miles up river from the coast.
The angler was in a row boat on the River Bure in Norfolk when the grey seal went after his day’s catch of fish.
The hungry seal looked up at the stunned fishermen from inside the net before he called a rescue charity to come help.
Arriving on the scene near Horning, a representative from the wildlife charity called the sea mammal significantly underweight, and then took it to the RSPCA shelter.
The pup, now called Sunshine, likely came from Sea Palling near Horsey Gap which is home to one of the largest colonies of grey seals in the UK.
Around 3,000 pups are born each season but the charity, Friends of Horsey Seals, said this was ‘one of the strangest seal rescue stories’ they’ve seen.
“Horning is 18 kilometers away, over a 5 hour walk, from Sea Palling,” said a Horsey Seals spokesperson. “Chances are that the seal didn’t come over land.”
“Instead it probably swam up the river Bure from Great Yarmouth. The distance from Great Yarmouth to Horning by river is 20 miles.”
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“The startled fisherman went to land the fish when the seal appeared—and also went for the same fish.
“He 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 12 kilograms (26 pounds), whereas most pups of its age should be between 30 to 45kg.
But, it’s now recovering well thanks to the holiday surprise and rescue.
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