An injured seal seen swimming through parts of the Thames in west London has been rescued by the RSCPA today.
The charity picked up the animal from the pontoon at Kew Bridge with the help of London firefighters on Thursday (October 13) shortly before noon.
She is thought to be the same one seen swimming at Barnes Bridge and at Hammersmith earlier in the month.
The seal is now being taken to East Sussex where she will be assessed.
The pinniped was seen outside Emanuel boat house by Barnes Bridge on Friday (October 7) morning by Niall Kenny, who grabbed video footage of the animal.
The rowing coach at Latymer Upper school in Hammersmith then saw the same animal later that day, this time near the Latymer pontoon. He said she had looked distressed.
He told getwestlondon : “It was early in the day and we were having a row before school, at around 7am.
“I saw the seal and it swimming quite close to one of the boats the boys were in. It was really close.
“The seal was going under the water and coming back up again. Then it swam to the bank and climbed ashore, where it lay quite still on the slipway.
“To be honest it maybe looked a little distressed on the bank, maybe a little bit at a loss and unaware of its surroundings.
“Then a few hours later I saw it again at the Latymer pontoon.”
Emanuel’s director of rowing David Conington, added: “It had appeared here every now and then, but this week it has been around here a lot more. I’ve been told it has an injured eye.”
The RSPCA was unable to confirm the nature of the injury, but said an update would be given.
