Stricken seal is rescued from netting on beach

The netting the seal was caught in. Picture: DAN GOLDSMITH

The young marine mammal was found trapped in rope netting at Waxham beach about 8.30am yesterday (Wednesday, March 28).

Great Yarmouth-based charity Marine and Wildlife Rescue went to its aid, and set the seal free after the netting was removed.

Dan Goldsmith, the charity's chairman, said the seal was probably born late last year. He said the nylon net looked like one that could have been used on a cargo ship.

Mr Goldsmith said: 'A member of the public who was out walking his dog had seen it there, just behind Waxham Sands Holiday Park.

'It was a grey seal, about 4ft long, and in a generally healthy condition - he didn't appear to be injured.'

Peter Ansell, chairman of the Friends of Horsey Seals, and someone from the holiday park were also part of the rescue effort.

Mr Goldsmith said the netting was too tight to be pulled away from the seal. He said: 'Each piece had to be cut off.

'After we cut it off, we gave him a look over, but he was quite keen to get away at this point.

'He went very strongly back into the sea.'

Mr Goldsmith said the incident showed the changed conditions on Norfolk's beaches.

He said: 'It really highlights how with the recent storms and the loss of sand from the beach there has been so much debris washed up onto the coast.

'They had done a beach clean recently but there was still so much stuff down there.

'We're getting more and more calls of this sort along the coast, for both seals and sea birds.'

In February, a seal was returned to Horsey Beach by staff from RSPCA's East Winch Wildlife Centre, six months after she was found at the beach with a frisbee embedded in her neck.