The winter of 2019/2020 has been the warmest ever recorded in Europe.

That's a problem for a species of seal which is facing extinction.

The Saimaa ringed seal needs snow and ice to survive because it gives birth to its pups in lairs dug into snow drifts.

But temperatures around their Finnish lake have been up to 10°C above the winter average, and there isn't enough snow for their lairs.

Now conservationists from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Finland's parks and wildlife service are trying to save the species from the effects of a warming planet.

Seal footage courtesy Juha Taskinen / WWF Finland.

Video Journalist Tom Bateman.