A LANDLADY made an unusual discovery on her way to work when she spotted what turned out to be a seal in the middle of the road.

Teresa Cook, of The Crown pub in Snape, near Aldeburgh, came across the stranded animal around 8.30am yesterday.

She was travelling from Orford and had just passed through Sudbourne when she said she spotted local farm worker Sherman Hewitt and another man struggling with what she thought was a deer close to the Iken cross roads.

“They told me it was a seal and I didn’t believe it,” she continued. “I guess it must have come up from the river. It’s very unusual.”

They called the police and officers soon attended, along with specialists from the RSPCA.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk Constabulary said: “Several members of the public boxed the seal in with their cars to stop it getting run over. They did a good job to make it safe.”

The juvenile grey seal was taken to the RSPCA’s East Winch Wildlife Centre in Norfolk around 10am.

A spokeswoman for the charity said last night: “The seal was alive but as yet we have no further update on its condition. It is still being assessed.

“It is still a mystery as to how it ended up on the road.”