THREE wild seals have been released into the North Sea.

Céline, Axl and Meatloaf have been receiving treatment at Blue Reef Tynemouth’s marine rescue centre.

Céline was underweight when she was brought into the centre in November and has had several infections which delayed her release back into the wild, while staff at the rescue centre say they think Meatloaf had probably been bitten by a dog. Axl was brought in with a suspected broken flipper, which turned out to be tendon damage.

Seal rescue manager Terry McKeone warned people visiting beaches in the North-East to be careful about getting too close to seals.

He said: “The main reasons seals are brought in is because they are underweight, which is caused by abandonment, and the other thing we see a lot of are dog bites.

“Sometimes people try and get selfies and they get too close and spook the mum, which can cause her to abandon the pup.”

He added: “The predominant cause of seals being rescued is people getting to close. People should maintain as big a distance as they can.”