HEART-rending pictures show a seal battling for survival after it got stuck in a discarded Tesco bag for life.
A handle of the blue Tesco bag, which appears to be emblazoned with the Disney movie Frozen, is stuck tight around the animal’s neck.
Cameron Barclay, 21, capturing the distressing image on Newburgh Beach, Aberdeenshire, on Thursday.
Cameron, from Portlethen, Aberdeenshire, alerted the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).
But thankfull the seal managed to escape from the bag and rejoin its colony before they arrived.
The fate of another seal, photographed with what appeared to be a fishermen’s net wrapped around its head, remains unclear.
Cameron uploaded the images to a Facebook group the same day, captioning the images: “Tangled seals at the Ythan. Ythan Seal Watch know of them?”
One user wrote under Cameron’s post: “It’s terrible how much man made pollution is in our seas, so sad.”
Another added: ““Why is this happening? I’ll tell you why it’s because we as humans are destroying our planet.”
Another user said: “Not good but at least we are realising that it’s not good and it is us to blame. Humans need to change.”
Speaking today (Mon) Cameron said: “My first reaction was that it’s extremely cruel that human pollution is affecting wildlife in their natural habitat.
“Although I personally couldn’t help them, I let Ythan Seal Watch know of the entanglements and I trust they will try their best to free the seals.”
Lee Watson, 37, a volunteer medic with BDMLR said: “We went down to try and check on the seal at Newburgh beach on Friday but the time we got there the seal had managed to free itself.
“This is a rather unique one as it had managed to untangle itself, which happens but not a lot. It was entangled in a Tesco’s Frozen bag for life, so it must have stuck its head in and got stuck.
“We are pretty stumped by this one.” The seals physiology is very strange as it doesn’t look like they have a neck. It must have moved itself in a way that allowed it to break free.
“The adult seal was caught in a fishing net but we couldn’t help as he was with the colony. There are protocols in place we have to follow.
“The biggest problem we have is visitors disturbing the seals, which pushes them away making it harder to save the entangled seals.”
