After months in rehab building up blubber she was gone in a matter of minutes.
Frisbee the seal ploughed into the waves at Horsey cheered on by some 50 well-wishers - and a bank of clicking cameras.
Lolloping across the sands towards the churning water she seemed to embrace her new-found freedom, bobbing up a couple of times before disappearing beneath the sea.
The adult female was admitted to the RSPCA’s East Winch Wildlife Centre in September with a gruesome, life-threatening injury caused by a frisbee stuck round her neck.
Her heart-warming release came as the charity launched an urgent crisis appeal for funds, revealing its monthly fish bill topped £14,000 as it struggled to keep pace with a surging number of patients.
MORE: Frisbee the seal found on Horsey Beach with ring around her neck is on the mend at King’s Lynn animal hospitalAlison Charles, manager of RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre said: “Frisbee’s story really highlights the work that goes into getting a seal ready to be released.
“It can take months of medical treatment and huge amounts of mackerel before they’re well enough to return to the wild where they belong.
“Frisbee was extremely emaciated when she was admitted and needed really intensive care.
“She had clearly been starving for a long time, unable to eat with the frisbee compressing and cutting deep into her neck.
“I’ve never seen such a terrible, deep and infected wound before and hope I never do again.
“Frisbee was near death and we really didn’t think she’d survive. But once we’d removed the plastic ring and she could extend her neck and eat, it was obviously a huge relief to her and she didn’t look back.
“With the help of antibiotics and pain relief along with healing salt baths and good high-fat nutrition in the form of mackerel, five months later she is well enough to be released.”
MORE: Seal who had frisbee stuck round her neck to be returned home to Norfolk beach
Frisbee was just one of a record 350 seals admitted to RSPCA centres last year, up nearly 100 from the previous year.
Experts at the animal charity believe the high number of seal admissions is due to a ‘perfect storm’ of extreme weather coming at the height of the grey seal breeding season.
RSPCA head of wildlife Adam Grogan said: “We really need the public’s help because without their donations we simply couldn’t do what we do.
To support the charity’s Seal Appeal click on this link.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here