by Our oceans are a vast and abundant life force in this world. Thousands of different animals call the sea home. But because of human activity, the oceans aren’t what they used to be. They’ve become polluted with tons of human waste – plastic being one of the biggest pollutants in the water. Many animals often mistake it for food and end up getting entangled.
Another major ᴛʜʀᴇᴀᴛ to marine life is the huge problem of ɢʜᴏsᴛ nets and ɢʜᴏsᴛ fishing lines. This trash brings a ᴛʜʀᴇᴀᴛ to the innocent animals who call the ocean home. These animals will often not know to avoid them – particularly the young seals – and they end up getting entangled. These lines are difficult to get out of which means that these poor seals are subjected to the slow ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ from the embedded lines with cut deep into their skin causing them to become unable to feed themselves and sᴜꜰꜰᴏᴄᴀᴛᴇ, or they develop a bad ɪɴꜰᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ and ᴘᴀss ᴀᴡᴀʏ.
A non-profit organization called the Ocean Conservation Namibia (OCN) made it their job to guard the coast and put an end to the entanglement of the marine animals present in the area.
Members of the OCN were doing their rounds on the shores of Pelican Point, Walvis Bay to spot and free some baby seals who were caught and tangled in stray wires and nets. This is an everyday morning patrol for the duo as several seals end up intertwined in those nasty wires due to the commercial fishing operations prevalent in the area. However, this turned out to be a special day for the rescuers thanks to a sweet angelic baby seal!
Once a seal gets messed up in a fishing net, they panic and run around in desperation. This often causes the piercing nets to tighten around their soft bodies, ɪɴᴊᴜʀɪɴɢ them severely. Without the intervention of rescuers, most of these seals either sᴛᴀʀᴠᴇ or sᴜꜰꜰᴏᴄᴀᴛᴇ to ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ.
Hordes of baby seal pups scuttled away from the team as they tried to chase the ᴠɪᴄᴛɪᴍs of the ɢʜᴏsᴛ nets. They eventually managed to catch one whose neck was entangled with a commercial fishing line.
They gently held the ꜰʀɪɢʜᴛᴇɴᴇᴅ seal pup as its friends were already far away from him. However, when the humans freed the seal pup from his miserable state, the seal pup, realizing he was out of ʜᴀʀᴍ, looked at them with gratitude as he slowly waddled away to his friends.
That particular seal pup was unlike the others they have sᴀᴠᴇd who sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇᴅ and even bit them in the process. It was a wholesome moment for them but they knew they could not just stay there and cherish it as there are many more seals to sᴀᴠᴇ. They continued to do their jobs by finding more seals to free.
