A farmer's wife and daughter found a seal pup beside a country road in rural England, four miles from the sea and a mile from the nearest river.

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Mary and Joanne Woods said they did not want to handle the seal because it was a wild animal. But they were afraid it would get run over if they left it, the Daily Mail reported.

With some difficulty, they picked up the seal and got it into their car trunk, and drove it back to the family's farm near Capernwray in Lancashire.

"No one believed us until they saw him," Joanne Woods said. "A vet we knew had a look at him and we called the (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). We didn't want to leave him in the boot of the car, so we put him in a calf's pen so he couldn't escape."

Nick Green, an animal collection officer for the RSPCA, said someone may have been keeping the seal as a pet, because it seemed used to being around people. Green said he believes the animal was dumped by the road, because it did not show any injuries from traveling overland.