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The flopping seal quickly became a spectacle for local onlookers as police tried to herd the animal, first using brooms and pieces of wood and then a piece of fish.
Gary Watkinson, who owns the land where the seal decided to rest, told the Liverpool Echo that he spotted it laying in the mud.
"It's definitely come up from the brook near here. I tracked its movements and you can see the marks in the soil," he said.
The British Divers Marine Life Rescue Service said the rescue was a challenge because the animal is so big. The nearest gray seal colony is about 50 miles away, so the seal may have traveled even farther than first thought.
"We think he's come from the Mersey area, which is tidal, and he's come up the bank here and he's got lost. It's very unusual," rescue worker Rachael Fraser told The Guardian.
Here's why you have to be careful with lost #seal @BBCNWT 6.30 #NewtonLeWillows https://t.co/h57IT1FC6K
— Andy Gill (@MerseyHack) December 22, 2014
Very lost! 'Stranded seal may have travelled FIFTY miles from its home. Full story & video: http://t.co/zgq6HAmaYp https://t.co/dD8BKicPYh.
— Katie Stacey (@naturenibbles) December 22, 2014