Vet calls for seal hospital after pup deaths

Seal pups were monitored at Seal Sands in Teesside

A vet has called for a dedicated seal rehabilitation unit to be set up following the death of several seal pups in an estuary this year.

The Tara Seal Research team said all 21 pups it had counted at Seal Sands in the Tees Estuary died weeks later. The seals have mainly died from a condition called mouth rot, according to the conservationists.

Hartlepool vet Zoe Dykes told BBC Radio Tees that one of the biggest issue facing the pups in the region was the need to transport them to Tyneside for specialist treatment.

"As a species they don't transport very well and they find being in human contact very stressful," she said.

Ms Dykes said several of the pups which died had been brought to her for treatment.

"We had one with part of the face eroded off," she said.

"It was pitiful to see the poor thing in that condition.

"The closest unit is up in Tyneside, which is too far for them to travel, and I believe they only have space for two seals at a time.

"With the numbers we've been seeing this summer that is not going to be enough."

She described the seals as the "jewel in the crown" of Hartlepool.

The Tara Seal Research team said it is investigating the deaths.