News / Police called out by Christmas selkie
CHRISTMAS morning’s powerful storm brought some unexpected activity for the police in Lerwick.
A taxi driver delivering a late night reveller home in the early hours of Wednesday morning came across a young grey seal pup opposite the Lerwick fire station behind Tesco at Sound.
He called the police who contacted Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary at 3am asking if they could be of assistance, as they did not want to take the young pup into custody.
With sanctuary owner Jan Bevington recovering from a flu bug, her husband Pete set off on the 35 mile journey through wind and horizontal rain to rescue the creature.
He found PCs Ian Brown and Victoria Duthie watching over the seal, as it sheltered behind a wall with huge waves crashing ashore nearby.
Duthie said this was an opportunity to overcome her fear of seals, as she helped to get the seal safely into a container.
She suggested calling it Nicholas, while her colleague favoured Santa. Jan Bevington said if it was a girl they should call it Mary.
“This is a first for us. We’ve had Christmas otters before, but never a seal,” she said.
The seal is now safely back at Hillswick where it will remain until it has fully recovered and can be returned to the wild where it belongs.
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