Specs washed up at Grouville where he was initially left to see whether his mother would return – she did not. (Picture by Alan Gicquel, 0866564)

A NEWBORN seal was initially refused access to life-saving treatment in the UK – because it did not have a passport.

The young grey pup was washed up in Grouville Bay, Jersey, on Sunday and transferred to the GSPCA on Monday morning.

Charity director of operations Jayne Le Cras called Customs at East Midlands Airport to arrange for the pup’s transfer but was told it would be turned away because the Channel Islands were not part of the EU.

‘I said, “Sorry, there aren’t many seals swimming around with a passport under their flipper”.

‘In all the years I have been sending seals across to the UK I have never had such a problem,’ said Mrs Le Cras.

The pup was flown from Jersey by private plane as staff at the Animal Shelter here were better equipped to deal with the newborn.

Once the seal was in Guernsey, Mrs Le Cras offered to get any paperwork required but said that as East Midlands Customs had never dealt with such a delivery before, they did not know what to ask for.

‘They suggested two postal services. I don’t know if they thought I was going to send it through the post,’ said Mrs Le Cras.

The pup finally left Guernsey yesterday morning, courtesy of the Specsavers private jet, and landed in Southampton at 7.15am.

Specs, named after the local company, was taken to RSPCA West Hatch, Somerset.