Black seal pup found by SSPCA on Aberdeen beach

A RARE black seal pup is recovering in the care of the Scottish SPCA after being found struggling to survive on Aberdeen’s beach.

The young pup, now named “Liquorice,” is a a grey seal with a jet black coat.

He was found lying on the city beach, weak and thin, by a member of the public and is now being rehabilitated for a return to the wild at the animal welfare charity’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre at Fishcross near Alloa.

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Colin Seddon, the centre manager, said: “Liquorice weighed only 14kgs when he was rescued and we’d expect a pup of his size to be at least 20kgs or more.”

He explained: “It’s common in grey seals for the male to be darker than the female, but Liquorice’s coat is jet black which is very unusual. This is the first pup of this colour to come into our care for many years.

“There seems to be more sightings of black coloured grey seals in the north of Scotland and they do appear on Shetland, but not in large numbers.

“Thankfully Liquorice is doing really well and feeding himself without any trouble. His weight is increasing steadily and he’s now a much healthier 19kgs.”

Mr Seddon added: “All going well we hope to release him back in to the water within the next month.”

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