Coastguards and the RSPCA were called in to help rescue a trapped seal pup.
The stranded mammal was found at Burnham Marshes by farm manager David Rawlinson and employee Paul Stinson trapped under a concrete slab against the sea wall.
It was dehydrated and extremely weak.
Colchester RSPCA inspector Jim Farr collected the pup and took it to Ipswich. One of the charity's ambulances took it to the charity's Norfolk hospital where it was recovering yesterday.
Bradwell coastguard's sector manager Dick Townshend said: "Had the pup not been sighted, it would undoubtedly have died
" It would appear that recent high tides had allowed it to come over the marsh sea defence workings where it had apparently been washed on to the sea wall before slipping down between the wall and a large concrete slab."
The rescue was less than a mile from where Mr Townshend rescued a deer stuck in the mud in August last year and also marks his 25th anniversary of arriving at Bradwell to establish the coastguard station.
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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