The gray seal with its neck trapped in fishing litter, while feeding its cub, is the emblem of our society

A gray seal trapped in a fishing net. It is the sad image that is going around the world and comes from a remote beach

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

Photographs of an Atlantic gray seal at a breeding site with fishing debris attached to its neck have sparked warnings from conservationists

Their beautiful natural habitat is reduced to a pile of waste. Thus the Atlantic gray seal is forced to live in the midst of abandoned fishing nets and what we abandon and the sea promptly returns.

The photo you see below was taken on a beach in Pembrokeshire in South West Wales and shows a female seal tangled in a piece of net and a fishing line. A thread of her tightens her neck as her puppy looks at her curiously.

"Photographs of an Atlantic grey seal at a breeding site with fishing debris stuck around her neck have prompted warnings from conservationists" @PA @Independent. https://t.co/UJ32NMcqZk

— WWF (@WWF) October 16, 2020

It is not only the large presence of litter that causes a sensation, but the fact that it is located on a remote and difficult to access beach, where seals reproduce. And this is how what until some time ago was the gray seal's paradise, is now a landfill that risks endangering the life of these animals. Associations have for some time been warning about the dangers of ocean litter, but this image once again highlights the urgency to run for cover.

Mark Underhill, campaign director for the National Trust, explained:

“Large quantities of waste are dumped into the sea every day and our wildlife is paying the price. Wastes like nets and fishing gear don't just go away and can pose a threat for decades, trapping all types of ocean life, as seen here off the coast of West Wales.

The Atlantic gray seal (Halichoerus grypus Fabricius), by the way, is a protected marine mammal and one of the rarest seal species in the world. It is estimated that around the world there are 300 individuals, half of which live in British and Irish waters.

Natural Resources Wales monitors seals in the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation. Manager Kate Lock explained:

“The problem of network entanglement is a cause for growing concern, especially with the high numbers recorded each year. In 2019, in the area around the island of Skomer, 28 individual seals were photographed with obvious signs, proving that at a given moment in their life they had become entangled ".

Pembrokeshire is a breeding area for seals who come here every year between the end of August and December to give birth to their young. The months of September and October are those in which there are more births and unfortunately the trapping and ingestion of plastic by marine animals are now widely reported in these places as well.

And the photo is nothing more than yet another demonstration.

Sources of reference: The Independent, ITV, Belfast Telegraph