Police have rescued a seal that became stranded in a small Noord-Holland town 15km from the coast.

The animal was spotted beside a dyke road near the Nauernasche Vaart canal in Assendelft, between Beverwijk and Zaandam, on Sunday evening.

Police were called to the scene and supervised loading the seal onto an animal ambulance. After consulting the seal rescue centre in Pieterburen, Groningen, they released it into the sea.

“We know our work covers a lot of different activities, but we never expected to encounter a seal in the course of our duties,” a spokesman for Zaanstreek police division said.

Local residents said they had previously seen seals in the Zaan, a 13km long river that flows into the Noordzeekanaal just north of Amsterdam, as well in the Markermeer.