Seal found snoozing in Vlissingen hotel room
Animal welfare workers had to remove a seal from a hotel room in Vlissingen on Tuesday. The critter had wandered in and decided to take a snooze. “We often receive strange reports and are not easily surprised anymore, but when we received a report [last night] we could not believe it at first,” the Zeeland Animal Welfare Foundation said.
The guest staying in the hotel room had taken her dog for a walk and discovered the surprise visitor when she came back, Valentijn Damen of Pier 7 Zandpaviljoen told Omroep Zeeland. “When the woman wanted to go back into her hotel room after the walk, she saw that a seal had crawled inside. Fortunately, she didn’t try to touch it,” Damen said. “She walked up to the restaurant to get help.”
“A WHATTT?” the foundation asked when it got a call from the Boulevard 17 restaurant, saying that they had a seal in a hotel room. Pier 7 also rents out beach rooms - hotel rooms right on the beach - and the grey seal decided he liked the accommodation.
The foundation responded to the scene, calling the Sea Animal Rescue Team Netherlands RTZ to assist. “It was a strange sight, the guests standing outside a bit nervous and the completely relaxed seal that was sleeping inside.”
According to RTZ, grey seals will sleep in the strangest of places. “They look for a place to rest and sometimes lie in the middle of a terrace or on the road,” the rescue organization said. “The grey seal likes to bite and is not an animal to be touched, despite its cute appearance.”
The RTZ rescue workers put the seal - who had turned quite grumpy from being woken up - in a seal basket and released it in a safe, quiet place.
The Pier 7 employees and hotel guest are quite chuffed with the experience. One employee called it great advertising because now the pet-friendly rooms are also seal-friendly.
