Entangled Seal in Ravenscar

At around 7pm on Wednesday 13th May, we received a call on our rescue hotline from a member of public who had been out watching the seals at Ravenscar. While looking back through her photographs, she noticed one appeared to have an injury round its neck.

BDMLR Medics Matt and Niamh were quick to respond and luckily by the time they arrived the seal was still in the same location. The animal was restrained and the monofilament line cutting into its neck was removed. The injury on the animal was fairly superficial only cutting into the layer of blubber round the seals neck, so after some topical treatment the animal was able to return to the sea, where the salt water will speed up the healing process.
There are often reports of netted seals in this area of Yorkshire but due to the location it is often too late to reach the animals, usually due to the tide which can quickly cut off areas of the coastline.

Photo Credit: Kerry Munton