- A juvenile gray seal was reported to the Mystic Aquarium rescue team on Sunday and was found in a devastating state on Block Island the next day, Earth Day.
- The young seal was found suffocated by plastic waste on Block Island, the third case this week according to rescuers.
- Distressing footage shows the seal barking in pain as the Aquarium’s marine specialists worked to free it from the thick rope and net.
A young gray seal was found dead from asphyxiation on plastic debris while swimming off the coast of Connecticut on Monday.
The juvenile seal was reported to the Mystic Aquarium rescue team on Sunday and was found in a devastating state on Block Island the next day, Earth Day.
Rescuers found the helpless animal tangled in pink plastic netting and nylon rope, writhing in pain. It is the third case of its kind in the area in the space of a week.
The young female was successfully placed in a box on the beach near North Light and transported on the Block Island Ferry to Mystic Aquarium Animal Rescue Program.
The rope had cut deeply into the creature’s fins as it tried to swim free of the net.
A juvenile gray seal was reported to the Mystic Aquarium rescue team on Sunday and was found in a devastating state on Block Island the next day, Earth Day.
The young seal was found dead asphyxiated by plastic waste on Block Island, the third case this week according to rescuers.
Distressing footage shows the seal barking in pain as the Aquarium’s marine specialists worked to free it from the thick rope and net.
Six people must help veterinarian Natalie Noll as she examines the seal, takes blood samples and treats its wounds.
After being released, the animal responded and was in good condition, according to Sarah Callan, manager of Animal Rescue at Mystic Aquarium.
‘The dangerous thing about such young animals is that they grow at a fairly rapid rate’ Callan told the Boston Globe.
“If we hadn’t gotten to this animal when we did, this entanglement could have had very significant effects as it grew,” he explained.
“It’s very easy to disassociate the trash we throw away at home because we don’t see where it ends up,” Callan said of the trash that had endangered the seal’s life.
Distressing footage shows the seal barking in pain as the Aquarium’s marine specialists worked to free it from the thick rope and net.
Rescuers found the helpless animal tangled in a pink plastic gill net and nylon rope.
“Even if you’re not the one throwing it into the ocean or throwing it on the beach, a lot of the trash we use every day ends up in the ocean in one way or another.”
It will likely be weeks before the young seal receives a clean bill of health and can be released back into the wild.
“It’s very fitting that this seal ran aground on Earth Day,” Callan told the Globe.
‘This makes his rescue and the story more meaningful to us. We can all learn from this case and it sends a great message that there is a lot of debris out there… Every individual effort plays a role in the bigger picture for these animals.’
