Starving Scottish seal pup turns up at door of Bristol pub

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A starving seal pup has travelled all the way from Scotland to a pub in Bristol. Astonished staff and punters saw him shuffling along the ground and waddling up to the front door of the establishment.According to its tag, the sea creature had travelled from Scotland and ended up at the Old Lock & Weir on Sunday, January 2.

The pub is some 300 miles away by road from the Scottish border where he was tagged and the route taken could also add to that.

Winding watercourses could make the journey even longer - to cycle the length of the country from John O’Groats to Land’s End is about 900km, for example, while the route for kayaking takes 1,400km.

Landlord Daniel Rawlins told Bristol Live : "He was wandering up outside on the road heading towards the pub. "He got to the wall and was literally at the front door."He was a hit with the customers - he was a bit of a cutie to be honest."He'd come a long way for a pint!"The seal had previously appeared on the slipway next to the pub at about 11.30am that morning, and staff managed to look after him while they waited for help until eventually letting him swim off.Daniel said: "We didn't really know what to do and thought we'd let nature take its course as he seemed like he wanted to get back in the water, and he swam off."It was about half an hour later that the seal reappeared, he said - this time fully getting out of the water and making a break for dry land.Staff managed to keep him in a safe place by placing empty bread crates around him, but Daniel said he was a "bit of an escape artist."He added: "We were taking it in turns to take care of him [until the rescue team arrived] - even the customers, when it was busy and we [staff] were needed in the kitchen."I could sense he