The Cornish Seal Sanctuary was able to release one lucky seal pup earlier than planned after she made a speedy recovery this summer.

The team at the sanctuary thought they had already staged their final release of the year, until a pup called Crossword defied the odds by getting fit enough and fat enough for a return to the wild sooner than expected.

This last winter was the 40th grey seal breeding season since the sanctuary moved from St Agnes to its present location in Gweek.

Curator Tamara Cooper said: “Crossword was a late arrival, rescued from Trevaunance Cove at St Agnes on May 22, the last of an incredible 65 casualties this season.

“She was about five months old but had a series of minor bite wounds and cuts and scrapes to her flippers, and was running a temperature.

“She was also very dehydrated, and we thought she would need a lengthy stay, but she responded really well to treatment and was soon building stamina and piling on weight in our outdoor convalescence pool.”

The sanctuary’s hospital and convalescence pools have been so busy since last autumn that at one stage it was feared some pups would have to be air-lifted to a centre in Norfolk to free up space for new arrivals.

Happily that contingency was avoided, and eventually the recovered pups were returned to the wild in batches of up to six at a time.

Tamara said: “As Crossword was on her own it meant that we could stretcher her down across the beach instead of having to drive as close as we can get to the sea in our rescue vehicle.”

The release went very well and Crossword was in the water very quickly.