Listening to Ol’ Blue Eyes is keeping Corn, Floss, Spot, Fudge and Coral happy night and day – thanks to a discovery by animal care worker Rob Meyer.

During a somewhat less than enchanted evening of four-hourly feeding, Rob put some classic Sinatra on his portable CD player.

He said: “The seals all stopped braying like angry donkeys and lay quietly listening. One of them even nodded off.”

Twenty-year-old Rob is an unlikely Sinatra fan and puts his passion down to his father, David, of Pentney. “He used to play Sinatra every day when I was a boy. That’s probably how I caught the bug,” he said.

Fellow animal care worker Kirsty Sopp, also 20, said: “Justin Timberlake is more my thing but the old crooner certainly seems to do the trick with the seal pups so I’m happy to put up with him.”

Sanctuary boss Nigel Croasdale paid tribute to the dedication shown by Rob and his team, who put up with long hours and interrupted sleep while bottle-feeding the infant seals a special milk formula.

“If Sinatra can help make the job easier, it’s anything goes as far as I’m concerned,” he added.

The recently-refurbished seal hospital has new one-way windows making it possible for the first time for visitors to see rescued pups.