Seal rescued 27km from coast in Britain

A seal has been found flopping its way through a field in northwest England, about 27km from the nearest coastline.

A dog walker spotted the stranded sea mammal at Merseyside on Monday morning and alerted police, who in turn called marine life rescue services and the RSPCA, the BBC News reports.

The young grey male seal is thought to have swum up the river Mersey before getting lost and finding its way into a brook near the field.

After several hours, authorities herded the "exhausted" and "distressed" seal, with the help of a local farmer, into a RSPCA trailer with bait of mackerel and it was then taken to a wildlife hospital for assessment.

It is hoped the seal can be released back into its natural habitat once it has fully recovered.