By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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A rescue mission on the coast of the United Kingdom has ended a six-year ordeal for a seal entangled in a plastic ring.
The seal, named Commuter, was first spotted in September 2017 in Cornwall, England, by volunteers from the Seal Research Trust (SRT) who realized during routine tracking that he had been caught in a plastic ring.
Since then, Commuter has strategically chosen to stay in inaccessible locations, leaving any attempts to help him by British Divers Marine Life Rescue impossible as a result of safety concerns.
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After years of tracking, Commuter was still swimming around entangled in plastic. But on January 14, 2024, SRT surveyor Andy Rogers spotted the animal at a local haul-out site, BDMLR said in a press release.
Rogers alerted BDMLR, triggering urgent preparations for a rescue attempt. A large adult seal weighing over 440 pounds, Commuter presented additional risks to rescuers, requiring a specialized team and equipment for capture and disentanglement.
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As low tide arrived, the BDMLR team sprung into action as a team of six medics, assisted by Rogers on the clifftop, worked to raise awareness and prevent disturbance from the public.
As other seals on the beach became aware of the approaching rescue team, a careful strategy was employed, using a cargo net and herd boards to block escape routes and safely restrain Commuter.
After a standoff between the large seal and his rescuers, eventually the plastic ring was successfully removed using bolt cutters. Medics were then able to assess the minor infection around the wound on his neck, and Commuter was deemed fit for release.
He swiftly returned to the water, showing no signs of distress, and headed back out to sea.
"Not only was it a huge success for Commuter after more than six years entangled, but also for the BDMLR rescue team who were able to catch their first 'healthy' adult male seal using a new technique," Rogers said in the press release.
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Commuter's progress will now be tracked by members of SRT and BDMLR to monitor the healing of his injury in the saltwater environment.
There is an estimated 75 to 199 million tons of plastic waste in our oceans, with a further 33 billion pounds of plastic entering the marine environment every year. The constant flow of plastic products is too much for existing recycling and waste management infrastructure, resulting in large amounts of plastics in our waters.
Debris and plastics wash up on beaches and shorelines around the world, but the most famous example of marine debris is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a collection of trash in the North Pacific Ocean that covers an area twice the size of Texas.
The most visible impacts of plastic pollution are the ingestion, suffocation, and entanglement of hundreds of marine species. Marine wildlife such as seals, turtles, fish and whales commonly mistake plastic waste for food, leading to suffocation, starvation and drowning.
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