Foul weather is threatening a crisis in Cornwall’s seal rescue network.

Winter storms have resulted in so many grey seal pups needing help that rescue operations came very close to capacity earlier this month.

Now, with six grey seal pups fit and ready for release to help free up space at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, fresh storm warnings have forced a postponement.

“If there is another influx of casualties before we are able to free some of our earlier patients back into the wild, we could be seriously overburdened,” said the sanctuary’s head of animal care Tamara Cooper.

The RSPCA facility in West Hatch was recently declared full, as was a smaller holding centre operated by British Divers Marine Life Rescue at St Austell.

A desperate plan to fly some seals to a Sea Life centre in Hunstanton, Norfolk, was only narrowly averted when the sanctuary managed to free up two hospital cubicles by moving patients out to the nursery pools.

“We generally rescue between 45 and 60 pups over the course of the whole winter,” said Tamara. “We have rescued 50 already this winter and they could be coming in right through to the end of March.”

One small consolation for the sanctuary is that its visitors are getting to gain a real insight into the scale and value of its work.