After weeks of attempting to free a seal from a rope, the NSRI finally caught the poor creature and freed it from its painful ordeal.
Hermarnus, South Africa (16 September 2022) – Andre Barnard, the NSRI Hermanus station commander, and his team have finally done it! They saved a seal from a great deal of pain.
Over the past weekend, while conducting routine maintenance at the NSRI Hermanus rescue station, the team got calls from several members of the public that a seal was in distress. They had seen it amongst the Dolosse, in and around the new harbour, with a rope entangled around its neck.
NSRI Hermanus and local authorities were all well aware of this seal that had evaded multiple attempts over the past few weeks by NSRI to try to disentangle the rope that was wrapped and entangled around its neck.
“Every time we tried to help the seal it dived into the water to swim away and escaped our efforts.” – Andre Barnard
After getting the calls, they decided to try again, only this time, they drew on experience and tools used for whale disentanglements. The seal was caught, and the rope was cut away and removed from the harbour.
“On this occasion our NSRI crew took SA Whale Disentanglement gear to the scene and NSRI crew, approaching the seal cautiously, commenced efforts using the whale disentanglement specialised cutting equipment.
The efforts were successful and the rope was cut free. The seal appears to be in good health.
No further assistance was required.”
The seal can now go on and live a pain-free life of ease. The NSRI doesn’t only save human lives; they save any animals in distress, working alongside animal rescue organisations. They have also been known to play a hand in helpful releases when ocean animals need to be released back into the wild!
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