When a Russian animal welfare organisation tried to release two baby seals back into the wild, they were surprised to find that one of them much preferred the company of its carers. The Friends of Baltic Seal Foundation had hoped to release the two pups into the wild but after 15 minutes, one decided it would much rather stay.

Pasha and Kroshik were released into Lake Ladoga, near St Petersburg, and Pasha happily took to its new life in the wild. The smaller seal, Kroshik, did not want to follow.

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Vyacheslav Alekseev, the foundation's director, said that Kroshik's reaction had not been unexpected, saying that the pup is "very attached to us."

"Such a sensation happened to us for the first time, and our 'graduate' decided to stay with us and not to come back into the sea," he told Ruptly TV. "We will prepare him better and for a longer time."

Kroshnik was reportedly the smallest such seal the centre had dealt with, having previously been looked after by the Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Centre after being found by fishermen in the village of Sviritsa.

Russia