SCARBOROUGH Sea Life Sanctuary is having one of its busiest seal-rescue summers in recent years.

Staff are currently nursing two seal pups in the seal hospital and have two more in the outdoor rehabilitation pool.

These four represent a tiny fraction of the 124 seals the centre has rescued and returned to the wild since 2011.

“Over the last three months alone, we have rescued more than a dozen common seal pups, with problems ranging from infections to malnutrition,” said displays curator Lyndsey Crawford.

“As part of their recovery programme the two pups in our rehabilitation pool will soon be introduced to the main seal pool to learn social skills and survival techniques from our residents,” she added.

Each year the centre names the rescued seals after different topics and this year has seen some famous book characters emerge.

Little Mermaid, Maid Marian and Harry Potter are just a few of the famous names to grace the hospital.

The final four casualties of a busy summer will be returned to the wild once they are well enough, and have attained a good weight.