A seal had to be rescued from a field in England

It's unclear how the seal ended up in the field which is about 17 miles from the sea

A seal has been rescued from a field in Merseyside, of all places.

The young male marine mammal was spotted this morning in the field near Newton-le-Willows by a dog-walker and was said to be in a distressed state.

And while it is unclear how he ended up there - 17 miles from the coast - it is thought he swam up the River Mersey estuary before becoming lost.

Experts say seal is a male,juvenile...one local's told me typical teenager! #NewtonLeWillows #seal pic.twitter.com/t7yVUzA68F

— Claire Hannah (@Claire_journo) December 22, 2014

Emergency sevices were dispatched to contain the animal and the BBC reports that the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Service guided the seal into a crate.

Operation seal a success. He's now in crate on back of tractor to be taken back to sea!! pic.twitter.com/An4EMXdJSm

— Claire Hannah (@Claire_journo) December 22, 2014

Operation seal a success!! He's now been taken away in crate on back of tractor. pic.twitter.com/aRWQXivEGj

— Claire Hannah (@Claire_journo) December 22, 2014

Post Operation seal briefing.. Just heard incident commander "we'll prob never deal with anything like this again". pic.twitter.com/qIzaGvVNTr

— Claire Hannah (@Claire_journo) December 22, 2014

The seal will now be taken to a sanctuary to be checked over before being taken back to sea.

Don't you just love a happy ending?