British Divers Marine Life Rescue are urging people to stay away from seal pups as they arrive on the Yorkshire Coast.
The rescue charity says there are many young Grey seal pups arriving on Yorkshire & Lincolnshire coastlines at present. They are around 2-8 weeks of age and usually on their own.
They can appear fluffy and white, or they may be moulted with a varying shade of grey, white, and black.
The charity is appealing for members of the public to stay away from any seals they might see on teh regions beaches saying:
"For consecutive years our stewards are facing an increasing number of disturbance threats to our seals populations at their most vulnerable time of the year and reckless actions that could also imperil coastal visitors.
Such negative human/seal interactions have caused a surge in rehabilitation cases and many rescue centres are at capacity. When this happens, veterinary surgeons have to make extremely tough and sad decisions to euthanise seal pups which will not survive independently following a maternal separation from human disturbance.
We urge people to ‘Give Seals Space’ and to try and coexist peacefully. With over 100 miles of beautiful Yorkshire coastline to explore seals can be easily avoided as our seals occupy less than 0.5% of the coastline regularly."
BDMLR say you can best help the seals by:
- Keep your distance - advise public to stay away
- Keep dogs on leads and advise walkers if a seal is on the beach. No seal pups wants to be bitten, and your dog could end up at the vets due to a seal bite.
- Never try to approach, touch, kick, drag, pour water on, or chase in to the sea. Seal pups are exhausted, especially after the recent storms
- Taking selfies with them causes a lot of alarm and distress to a young seal, the photo will be long forgotten but it can have a lasting impact on the young animal.
- Consider the effects of posting their whereabouts on social media. Good intended posts can lead to other members of the public will go looking for them, not always with the best of intentionsm
- If you are concerned the pup is being harassed, has injuries or appears unwell, call British Divers Marine Life Rescue - Yorkshire and Lincolnshire who can send a trained medic to assess the pup.
- Use a long zoom to take any photographs when reporting the pup to us, and the use of apps such as What3Words can make locating them a piece of cake!
BDMLR phone line is open 24/7/365 days of the year on 01825 765546. Trained Marine Mammal Medics are on hand to give assistance to and if needed, rescue imperilled marine life.
The BDMLR team have released this footage of Seals being disturbed saying:
"This footage is upsetting, seeing seals of every age scrambling over rocks to avoid people coming towards them. This time of year many whitecoat pups are still with their mothers, it's vital to stay away from colonies and not cause disturbance. Injuries and maternal separation are just two of many outcomes from actions such as these!"
Urgent Appeal! For consecutive years our stewards are facing an increasing number of disturbance threats to our seals populations at their most vulnerable time of the year and reckless actions that could also imperil coastal visitors. Such negative human/seal interactions have caused a surge in rehabilitation cases and many rescue centres are at capacity. When this happens, veterinary surgeons have to make extremely tough and sad decisions to euthanase seal pups which will not survive independently following a maternal separation from human disturbance. We urge people to ‘Give Seals Space’ and to try and coexist peacefully. With over 100 miles of beautiful Yorkshire coastline to explore seals can be easily avoided as our seals occupy less than 0.5% of the coastline regularly. We need both more volunteer stewards and funds to help educate visitors and look after the welfare of our seals. Our next free training dates are the 9th and 30th of December – To find out more email Yorkshireseals@gmail.com Or please consider donating to our cause here https://yorkshireseals.org/support-us
Posted by Yorkshire Seal Group on Thursday, December 5, 2024
The volunteer rescue team say they are looking for more recruits to help join their team of Marine Mammal Medics in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, adding:
"If rescuing seals, whales, dolphins, and porpoise sounds right up your street, you're welcome to pop your name on the waiting list for when our new courses launch. Enter your details here: https://bdmlr.org.uk/course-waitlist-form"
There is more information about their work at https://bdmlr.org.uk/
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