Seals and birds fill animal hospitals

This 10-day-old seal carries the distemper virus

A sea life sanctuary has come to the rescue of seals suffering from distemper on the Norfolk coast.

The sanctuary at Hunstanton has had to step up its work because the county's main wildlife hospital is stretched to the limit caring for birds affected by an oil slick three weeks ago.

The sick seals are victims of the Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) epidemic, which arrived on British shores in July.

Rebecca Tanner, of Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary, said: "Normally at this time of the year we'd only have one or two seals in hospital, but in the last couple of weeks, we've had round about 11 seals come through our doors."

An oil slick affected hundreds of birds

More than 600 oiled birds have been collected on the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts in the wake of the mystery oil slick.

Many have been treated at the wildlife hospital at King's Lynn run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

The PDV outbreak is estimated to have killed about 2,000 seals in the UK, half of which have been off the East Anglian coast.

Out of 130 animals admitted to the RSPCA hospital, only about 35 survived.

It is thought the situation in the region may be easing, with the centre of the epidemic now in Scotland.