Saving Our Seals – 28 Sea Mammals Rescued after Becoming Trapped in Plastic Junk
Distressing pictures from Tyuleniy Island highlight the human blight of floating ocean garbage which kills pinnipeds.
This was a first expedition by volunteers and activists to rescue seals trapped in plastic rubbish on the island, a breeding ground in the Sea of Okhotsk, off Sakhalin.
Each year, these shores are a magnet for seals and sea lions.
Young animals especially love playing with the junk – but often get trapped in synthetic fishing nets and plastic rings.
These easily turn into deadly collars that ‘grow’ deep into bodies of the mammals, leading to slow, agonising death.
Whales and dolphins suffer on an horrific scale from netting and plastic waste – some 300,000 die each year, according to the International Whaling Commission.
A dozen volunteers crawled along the beach to catch the seals tied up or otherwise tangled in the garbage. Pictures: Boomerang Club
Helping to free the stricken seals on Tyuleniy Island was no easy task as the seals have very sharp teeth and fast reactions.
The legal framework around using sedatives is not yet resolved and it is impossible to save large animals, such as mature seals and sea lions, and to work on rocky shores without immobilising them. This is why Tyuleniy Island with flat sand and gravel beaches – and many young animals – was chosen for this initial rescue mission.
A dozen volunteers crawled along the beach to catch the seals tied up or otherwise tangled in the garbage.
The pictures show how the team carefully went about their work.
Volunteers also removed dangerous hooks, ropes, boards with nails and sharp pieces of metal from the shoreline.
In the end 28 seals were saved from recklessly thrown rubbish.
The expedition was organised by Boomerang Club, an environmental NGO, and Friends of the Ocean along with Kamchatka Branch of the Pacific Ocean Institute of Geography, with support from the President’s Grants Fund and a fishing company from Lermontovka.
Activists and scientists plan to continue joint efforts to rescue sea animals from plastic rubbish in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Saving Our Seals – 28 sea mammals rescued after becoming trapped in plastic junk. Pictures: Boomerang Club
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Featured image: Helping to free the stricken seals on Tyuleniy Island was no easy task as the seals have very sharp teeth and fast reactions. Pictures: Boomerang Club
