Redcar RNLI volunteers help rescue baby seal

The seal was "snuggled away under a seat"

A volunteer lifeboat crew, training on a Teesside beach, ended up offering a helping hand to a stranded baby seal.

The animal was spotted under a seat in a promenade shelter, in Redcar, on Sunday, where it was thought to have taken refuge from rough seas.

As people arrived, it began to move away, leading to fears it could end up on a nearby road.

The crew moved it to safety and called a marine expert, who released it at the grey seal colony on the River Tees.

Dave Cocks from Redcar RNLI said: "It was a bit different to the usual type of rescue we get involved with"

Dave Cocks, from Redcar RNLI, said: "We guess the seal had decided to get itself out of the sea, sometime during the night, to avoid the rough waves, with winds gusting at nearly 60mph.

"To start with, it was quite happy to stay snuggled up out of the weather in a corner of a shelter.

"But as more people came along, it tried to get out of the way and we were concerned it might even end up on the road outside the boathouse.

"Two RNLI volunteers used one of the lifeboat's survivor's blankets to swaddle the seal so it could be carried into a quiet corner of the lifeboat station."

The seal was fit and well when it was found