A pup harp seal rests on the ice floes on March 3, 2008, off the coast of the Magdalen Islands, Quebec. A seal pup was found in a forest in eastern Sweden on Sunday almost six kilometres (four miles) from the closest body of open water, raising questions as to how it got there, Swedish media reported.

A seal pup was found in a forest in eastern Sweden on Sunday almost six kilometres (four miles) from the closest body of open water, raising questions as to how it got there, Swedish media reported.

"A somewhat confused person called and said he was out walking in the woods where he had found a seal pup. I thought he was joking at first," Uppsala police inspector Henrik Pederson told news agency TT.

Hunter Robert Sandefors, who was asked by police to take care of the pup, said the seal had probably made its way into the woods on its own, based on tracks visible in the snow.

Police said the seal had probably crawled three kilometres over sea ice and three kilometres into the woods.

"He must have gotten separated from his mother and gotten lost and gone in the wrong direction," Sandefors told public broadcaster Swedish Radio.

The seal was taken to the nearby Dalaelven river, where it was released and swam away.

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(c) 2013 AFP