Ian Ellis was birdwatching in Linconshire, UK from a nearby bird sanctuary when he noticed that the cows in the field were behaving strangely. 

Rather than grazing, they had gathered around something in the mud and gently nudging it. The 67-year old, used a telescope to investigate. To his surprise, he saw that the cows had gathered around a small seal pup.  
 
Along with a staff member at the bird sanctuary, they went to free the pup from the mud and contacted Natureland Seal Sactuary. 

The field is connected to a marsh, and experts believe the pup somehow got separated from its mother. When the tide went out, she was trapped in the mud. 


The seal pup was only 5 days old and showed signs of weight loss and dehydration. The first stage of treatment was to rehydrate her, and begin by giving her high-fat herring to regain her weight.

Though she did not initially look like she would survive, she is doing well, and has since been named Celebration. 


Celebration will continue to be monitored carefully at the Seal Sanctuary until she is big enough and healthy enough to be released into the wild.