Old lifeboat station to become seal rescue centre

A colony of harbour seals returned to the Tees in the 1980s and there are now almost 200

A disused lifeboat station is being turned into a centre dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating injured seals.

The lifeboat station at South Gare, in Redcar, has been taken over by Teesmouth Seal Conservation Trust (TSCT).

The new charity has signed a 30-year lease on the site so it can protect the animals around the Tees Estuary.

TSCT's chairman David Newell said the building would become a seal hospital to rehabilitate seals and pups "found in distress".

Mr Newell said: "Both the local fishermen and our charity want the same thing: a coastline rich in fish for both seals and fishermen to enjoy.

"Marine ecology works in such a way that top predators like seals cannot remove an entire fish stock as they would of course, starve to death if they did."

He added: "We wish to work with others involved in coastal conservation to ensure that the sea around Teesmouth is flourishing."

David Newell, chair of the Teesmouth Seal Conservation Trust, with PD Ports chief executive officer Frans Calje in front of the new seal hospital site

The colony of about 200 harbour seals returned to the Tees in the 1980s and 36 pups were born there last year.

PD Ports, the Tees and Hartlepool port authority, has agreed to lease the building to the charity for the next 30 years for a "token" sum of £100 a year.

Once renovated it will be turned into the Teesmouth Seal Rescue and Coastal Conservation Centre.

Frans Calje, chief executive officer of PD Ports, said: "It seems fitting to us at PD Ports that a building with such a history of coastal rescue should now have a future in rescuing marine animals."