A baby seal found wandering along a footpath in Limerick city, after being washed inland by winter storms, will be returned to the ocean this weekend.
Three-month-old "Kelly" was spotted on the canal bank in Corbally making her way to the main road.
"My first instinct was to put her back into the river but that would have been the wrong thing to do, according to the information we received from the Irish Seal Sanctuary in Dublin," said Niamh Allen, Limerick Animal Welfare.
"The sanctuary sent one of its volunteers, Chelsea Collins, up from Cork and she explained to us that the most important thing to do was to get the seal rehydrated. She passed a tube into Kelly's stomach and fed her some glucose solution through the tube," she added.
After responding quickly to the fluids, the seal was stable enough to travel with Ms Collins to Cork where she was fed fish soup, mackerel, and some herring smoothies. The following morning she was transported to the Irish Seal Sanctuary in Dublin where she has made a full recovery.
After some research it was decided to release Kelly at Seafield beach in Quilty, Co Clare, a well-known seal colony. The release will take place on March 4th next at 3.30pm and the public is invited to attend.