Twin seal pups in Horsey abandoned by mother

A rare set of seal twins have been abandoned by their mother less than two weeks after she gave birth.

The mother grey seal gave birth to the duo, thought to be the first set of seal twins in the UK, on November 29 at Horsey Gap. But she has since left the pair, and they have been taken into the care of the RSPCA at East Winch.

Friends of Horsey Seals chairman, Peter Ansell, said: 'A lot of this is theory, but it appears that the female grey seal only has enough milk to able to feed one pup for a three week stretch, so we suspect that what happened is that she has run out of milk.'

Mr Ansell said that it is quite a normal occurrence for mothers to leave pups, even when they only have one, as seals do not have much of a maternal instinct.

'It's not very nice, but it's nature,' Mr Ansell added.

Friends of Horsey Seals were looking to conduct a DNA test to confirm that the seals were twins, and were gathering quotes for how much this would cost.

The seals are thought to be perfectly healthy and developing well, but have been taken to the RSPCA to help them build up the strength to be released into the wild.

'If the RSPCA didn't take them, they may have ended up starving on the beach, or may have gone into the sea before they were ready,' said Mr Ansell. 'So now they will be looked after.'