Wrong turn: Baby seal Rudolph was discovered in the back garden of a family home in Benenden, Kent She's less than a year old but this seal pup's inquisitive nature and adventurous spirit has already landed her in a lifetime's worth of trouble.
Nicknamed Rudolph, she was found by a family in their back garden in Kent, 18 miles inland from the sea.
Inquiries have revealed that earlier this year the playful pup was rescued and treated at a seal centre in Ostend, Belgium, before being released back into the English Channel
Clearly with a nose for travel, Rudolph ended up swimming upstream from Rye, East Sussex, when the River Rother was in flood recently.
Despite a number of sightings RSPCA officers were unable to catch the pup until she was rounded up by the Dwyer family's collie dog Jack in their back garden.
The seal was spotted sitting in the snow at the family home in Benenden, Kent, on Monday by Harriet Dwyer, 24.
'I heard Jack barking and went over to see what looked like a huge slimy cat,' she said.
'We could see it came from a stream at the end of the garden from tracks in the snow.'
Intrepid: Rudolph swam 18 miles inland from Rye, East Sussex, before deciding to snack on the goldfish in the Dwyer family pondHer father, Professor Tim Dwyer, 51, said: 'It was bizarre, really.
'My daughter was out with our dog Jack in the snow when she came in and said "there's a seal in the garden".
'We all went out and under the hedge was a seal looking quite chirpy and slithering around in the snow.'
Prof Dwyer, who works in the engineering department at London South Bank University, said: 'I went back indoors and rang the RSPCA and police.
'The seal made its way across the garden into the pond, where it sat happily staring out of the pond in an enchanting way with its eyes just above the water.'
Rudolph is believed to have helped herself to some goldfish and eventually settled in the herb garden, watched by Jack.
Rescued: The one-year-old pup had already been treated at a seal centre in Ostend, Belgium, and is now being looked after at an RSPCA centre in HastingsProf Dwyer, said: 'He was very good and, as collies do, he has a rounding instinct. The dog was quite happy to keep it in one place.
'My daughter, not very inventively, called it Rudolph, which seemed appropriate as it was sitting around in the snow.'
The pup was eventually coaxed into an animal crate and taken to the RSPCA's Mallydams Wood Wildlife Centre in Fairlight, Hastings, East Sussex, where it has been renamed Gulliver after its fondness for travelling.
Nikki Lambert, wildlife assistant and veterinary nurse at the centre said there had been earlier sightings nearby of the female pup following the recent stormy weather.
She was seen in a field after the River Rother flooded but had gone back into the water when the RSPCA was alerted, making her impossible to catch.
Journey: Rudolph got into the River Rother at Rye during flooding before swimming 18 miles inlandMiss Lambert said: 'She's fit and healthy, a bit underweight, but is now eating well.
'She has a tag on her flipper which actually shows that earlier on this year she had been in a wildlife centre in Ostend. We're still waiting to find out her full history, but she's obviously got lost.'
The seal is being cared for alongside another female pup called Gloria, aged around seven months, who was recovered in September after being washed up on the beach near Hythe, Kent.
Gulliver will be kept at the centre until she has increased her weight sufficiently and will be re-released within the next month to enjoy fresh adventures.
source: dailymail
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