A seal who had a rope wrapped so tightly around her neck that skin had grown over it has been set free.
Rescuers had been trying to free Nanette from the noose-like rubbish for two months, but repeated attempts had failed.
Since December, the grey seal had been sighted on a few occasions in north Cornwall.
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She was seen to be in pain but disturbances from members of the public thwarted any attempt at getting close to her.
Finally, on rescuers’ third attempt, Nanette was drawn in by a cargo net, restrained and cut out of the ever-tightening noose.
A spokesman for British Divers Marine Life Rescue said: “A team of five experienced BDMLR volunteers, including a veterinarian, were able to access the beach undetected with capture equipment.
“They were able to immobilise her first in a large cargo net, and then further restrain her in a specialist stretcher to help keep her still while the entanglement was assessed.
“A small amount of monofilament net was found to be cutting so deeply into her neck that the wound had healed over the top of it around most of her neck, enclosing it within her body.
“This made disentangling her far more difficult as the knots of the net could not be pulled through cleanly.
“And thus the team had to figure out a system of cutting knots in a specific order to release the strands which could then be carefully extracted and fully free her so that she could be released again.
“We would like to thank the surveyors at the Seal Research Trust as well as the BDMLR team whose planned action in a challenging scenario paid off in giving Nanette a better quality of life net-free.”
It comes after an injured seal pup entangled in plastic netting was rescued in Dunwich, Suffolk, as reported by Need To Know.
It was found wrapped in mesh by members of the public.
The netting, which had been pinned to the beach with an iron stake, had repeatedly cut into the seal’s flesh.
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