Sao Viet

The baby seal, “Lost and Found,” blocked the mailman’s path all the way to its doorstep until he helped it. It was hungry and lost, but refused to give up.

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by

Binh
in

‘Feisty’ Baby Seal Blocks Mailman’s Path To Front Door Until He Helps Her

She was hungry and lost, but refused to give up.

On a damp January day in Gorleston, England, a postman delivering mail ran into someone unexpected on his route. As he approached a red brick doorstep, a forlorn baby seal sat on the ground, blocking his path.

Marine and Wildlife Rescue

The pup looked young — and lost. Her white fur meant she was just a week or two old. Though Gorleston is a seaside town, a baby seal lingering in a residential area is uncommon.

The postman called up Marine and Wildlife Rescue for help.

“[The pup] had been seen the previous day trying to shuffle under a car in the adjacent car park,” Dan Goldsmith at Marine and Wildlife Rescue told The Dodo. “But we couldn’t locate her when we arrived.”

A baby seal wiggles her way underneath a red car.
Marine and Wildlife Rescue

Luckily, the postman acted quickly, and Goldsmith got to the scene before she snuck away again. The pup was tiny, and her mother was nowhere to be found.

“The seal pup was fairly alert, but visibly underweight for its age,” Goldsmith said. “It did have a very small puncture wound that it could have sustained whilst being washed into the sea prematurely. Pups of this age are not meant to have entered the water until they molt their white fur.”

Goldsmith transported the seal baby to the RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre.

A baby seal pup covered in white fur sits in a rescue crate.
Marine and Wildlife Rescue

In a press release, the RSPCA said the pup’s official name is Cold Call, a nod to her unexpected visit to someone’s front door. It’s likely that she got separated from her mama after rough weather in the area.

“Cold Call is just one of the many seal pups we are currently caring for,” Evangelos Achilleos, RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre manager, said in the release. “We had a large number of orphaned greys come in due to the tides and storms.”

A seal pup molting.
After making it impossible for the postman to ignore her, Cold Call is recovering well at the wildlife center, embracing new seal friends and putting on weight.

“She is currently in fish school,” Achilleos told The Dodo. “She is learning how to feed for herself and how to be independent … She has a typical grey seal attitude — a bit feisty and very vocal.”

For the next few months, Cold Call will continue learning the ropes of seal life before being released back into the wild.