A SWIMMER leapt into the sea to help rescue an injured seal.

People on the beach at Wish Tower, Eastbourne, spotted the injured seal near the water’s edge on Saturday morning.

When animal rescuer Chris Riddington from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) got to the seal it was looking “in a bad way” with a bleeding muzzle and he knew they would have to act fast.

A member of the public then offered to swim out to help usher the seal in to the beach so it could be caught and treated.

Chris said: “This is not our normal approach and something I was a bit worried about trying in case we spooked the seal and we lost it completely.

“I went as close as I could and tried to assess its condition better and realised he had a lot of blood coming from his muzzle. At this point I decided to take the guy up on his offer and attempt it.”

Chris walked along the groyne with a net and towel and, while the seal was distracted by the approaching swimmer, managed to edge closer and closer.

Eventually the swimmer managed to spook the seal far enough up the beach to be too distracted to notice Chris rush over the stones and catch it in a net.

Chris said: “It was all about timing. If the swimmer had come out before I was in position or I had approached if he wasn’t close enough it could have gone wrong.

“It was incredible team work that really paid off.

“I just want to say a huge thank you to the gentleman who swam out to help me with the seal.

“With dog walkers and members of the public filling the beaches it made it quicker for us to extract the seal and get it to safety.

“Thank you to all of the members of public on site that stayed off the beach, kept dogs on a lead and helped me load the poor seal on to the ambulance.

“It was so nice to see a community pulling together to help an injured animal.”

The seal has now been transferred to RSPCA Mallydams in Fairlight.

Chris added: “We don’t know how it was injured but it was looking in a pretty bad way.

“We don’t see seals very often, maybe only once or twice a year.

“It was a pretty nasty injury and the seal wasn’t looking too good when we got to it but everything possible is being done to try and save it.”