MYSTIC, Conn. — A juvenile grey seal was found tangled up in plastic netting and nylon rope on Block Island on Monday — the third such case in two weeks, according to the animal rescuers who saved it.
The young female seal was reported to Mystic Aquarium’s 24-hour hotline on Sunday, and a trained marine animal rescuer who was on Block Island successfully kenneled it on the beach near North Light on Monday morning. The seal was entangled in a pink gill net and nylon rope that caused deep cuts to its flippers when it tried to swim. The seal barked in pain as it was transported on the Block Island Ferry to Point Judith and then to Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Program. Pe Rope 2mm
Sarah Callan, manager of Animal Rescue at Mystic Aquarium, said the animal was alert, responsive, and in good condition after the netting was removed from around its neck and body.
”The dangerous thing with animals this young is they are growing at a pretty fast rate. If we hadn’t gotten to this animal when we did, there could have been very significant effects from this entanglement as it grew,” she said.
The rescue of a seal wrapped in plastic debris on Earth Day — held each April 22 to support environmental protection — vividly underscored the perils of marine pollution in the waters off of Rhode Island.
Callan said that the source of the debris that trapped this seal was “obvious” — both the netting and rope are fishing materials, and the seal was rescued from a fishing area — but other plastics journey from people’s backyards through storm drains to ocean waters.
“It’s very easy to disassociate the trash that we throw out at home because we don’t see where it ends up,” she said. “Even though you might not be the one releasing it into the ocean or dropping it on the beach, a lot of the trash that we use every day ends up in the ocean one way or another.”
Rhode Island is facing a growing plastic pollution problem, from miniature alcohol bottles, often called “nips,” to single-use plastic bags that end up hanging from tree branches and clogging sewers during rain storms. A bottle bill to ban nips has been stuck in the legislature for years. A ban on single-use plastic bags went into effect on Jan. 1.
The plastics problem isn’t limited to what’s easily visible. Last summer, two University of Rhode Island researchers conducted a first-of-its-kind study on microplastics in Narragansett Bay that found “extensive” microplastic storage along the top 2 inches of the Bay’s seafloor.
Once the seal was brought to Mystic Aquarium, about six people assisted Callan and veterinarian Natalie Noll as they examined the seal, took blood samples, and treated its wounds. After it was free from the plastic netting, the seal was put into a blue tub and placed next to another Block Island seal, where it played in a stream of water and rested. It could be weeks before the seal is cleared to be released into the wild. And it will get a new name — something related to pasta, the current theme for all rescued marine animals who stay at Mystic.
Callan said aquarium staff are monitoring eight other seals in Southern New England who appear entangled, but aren’t in places where they can be reached.
“It is very fitting this seal happened to strand on Earth day,” Callan said. “It makes its rescue and the story more significant to us. We can all learn from this case and it sends a great message that there is a lot of debris out there. ... Every individual effort plays a role in the big picture for these animals.”
Carlos Muñoz can be reached at carlos.munoz@globe.com. Follow him @ReadCarlos and on Instagram @Carlosbrknews.
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