It’s a sunny Easter weekend and everyone is enjoying the good weather seen over most of the country, despite our movements being restricted due to COVID-19 government guidelines.
If as part of your daily exercise you feel you must visit the beach, please be aware that seals are also hauling out to rest, and enjoy the sunshine too. Yesterday our rescue hotline was flooded with reports of seals on the beach, not many seals but multiple calls for the same animals, all of which did not need any help, but just to be left alone.
One particular seal had been on the beach for just a short while but had been disturbed so much by people and dogs, that one of our volunteers needed to intervene and move the animal to a safer place to rest. This could have been avoided if we had been able to leave the seal in situ, but with the level of disturbance around, this was not safe.
At this time of year seal pups are totally independent of their mother, so if you see a small seal on the beach, with no injuries, entanglement or anything obvious that would indicate it needs help, please leave it where it is and move away. Seals are able to spend many hours on land and do not need to be in the water, they will return to the sea when they are ready.
