A young seal struggling to breathe has been rescued from a beach.

The stricken animal, which was "coughing a lot" was found at Ovingdean on Friday.

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service (WRAS) took the grey seal in at its Lewes centre after it was seen by trained medics from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

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A WRAS spokesman said: "The seal was reported to be coughing a lot and requiring extra effort for breathing, so decisions were made that it needed to be seen by a vet.

"Unfortunately rehab spaces in more specialised centres are currently full so we agreed to take this one into care for veterinary assessment and to start a treatment plan to see how we respond to the medication and until a space in the specialist centres become available.

"Although they have only been in care for just over 24 hours, they are currently showing positive signs of improvement."

The rescue service said this was the second seal treated by the centre last week.

Another young grey seal was rescued from St Leonards beach on Thursday morning and was given some fluids at the centre before being transferred to another wildlife hospital.