Seal pup’s big adventure gives motorist a gluff

Flopping strange: The seal pup spotted on the road.

An adventurous seal caused quite a fright when it was spotted on a road in Bressay, miles from the water.

Gemma Tulloch, 28, said she had to look twice when she saw the hefty pup by the roadside at about 11am.

She jumped out of the car to take a quick photo of the animal which was close to their home before contacting her dad who helped rescue the seal with a tonne bag.

“It was a complete shock. I had to take a double look, it was quite unexpected,” she said.

“He seemed to be following the verge of the road…he didn’t know where he was going.

“I was in the car and I was just going in over the island and he was just opposite our house. I hadn’t got very far and I stopped and I thought I would have to do something about him becasue he clearly wasn’t meant to be there.”

After being taken over to Lerwick the seal was transported up to Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary.

Jan Bevington who runs the sanctuary with husband Pete, said the seal had belly-flopped along the road for about two miles.

“It’s a female and a decent size,” she said.

“I can’t see anything totally wrong with her but it’s just collapsed in its pen and it’s snoring near enough.

“It’s so tired I assume it’s the two-mile flop that’s done it.”

Mrs Bevington said seal pups that have moulted can go on land looking for food if they are hungry.

She believes the seal is about four to six weeks old and weighs about 30 kilos.

And other than being dehydrated the initial signs were that seal was in good health.

“If she’s ok we’ll feed her up for a week and let her go,” she said.