Locals shocked to discover young seal stranded on Mornington Beach

Locals enjoying a stroll on Mornington Beach earlier today were shocked to discover a young seal soaking up the sun on the shoreline!

Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan discovered the stranded pup on a walk with her dog and alerted Seal Rescue Ireland who arrived on the scene shorty after.

Cllr Tolan said the youngster looked healthy and happy and may just have been conserving its energy in order to return to the water. She added:

" I was walking and I usually tip the rock when I get to Mornington Wall, we had the dog off the lead and we were throwing the ball when I spotted the seal, I got the shock of my life.

"I put the dog back on the lead straight away. I hung on to tell people to stay back and make sure their dogs were on leads as they didn't know it was there.

"I stayed for about an hour and a half, after around 45 minutes a Seal Rescue Ireland volunteer had arrived and he assessed the pup.

"They looked very healthy just a bit tired, they were moving and looked like they were just sunning themselves to be honest.

"He did mosey down to the edge of the water but didn't seem to want to get in just yet. He may have just been waiting until he got his energy levels back up before getting in.

"Seal Rescue Ireland will monitor them and assess if they need to be brought to their sanctuary or if they are ok to go back into the sea to be reunited with their mother."

A spokesperson for Seal Rescue Ireland said that the pup was being monitored and had no further update at the time of writing.