Entangled grey seal freed despite human interference

Sunday, 16 February 2025 20:12

Picture: BDMLR/Dan Jarvis/Andy Rogers

A grey seal named Nanette has been successfully rescued and freed from entanglement in Cornwall. It follows multiple failed attempts due to human disturbance.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and the Seal Research Trust had been tracking Nanette since Christmas 2024, after she was spotted with a deep entanglement around her neck at a semi-accessible site in north Cornwall. Rescuers twice attempted to capture and free her, but on both occasions, the charity says people on the clifftop ignored barriers and warnings, causing seals, including Nanette, to flee into the sea before help could arrive.

However, on Friday, 31 January, a third attempt proved successful. A team of five experienced BDMLR volunteers, including a veterinarian, managed to reach the beach undetected and secure Nanette using a cargo net and a specialist stretcher. They discovered that the monofilament net had cut so deeply into her neck that the wound had healed over it, making disentanglement a complex process. The team had to carefully cut the knots in a specific order before extracting the embedded strands to fully free her.

BDMLR thanked the Seal Research Trust surveyors and their own rescue team for their perseverance, ensuring Nanette could return to the wild with a better quality of life, free from the net that had been causing her distress.

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