Seal watcher Bart van der Boom rescued a seal from a dire situation on the beach of Zandvoort-Zuid last night. The animal had become entangled in a net several meters long and had a serious wound.
After a report from a walker, Bart van A-sail, the seal watchdog shelter, found the animal crawling on the beach between Zandvoort and Bloemendaal. The young gray seal was tangled in a meter-long net, which it pulled behind it.
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Normally, seal rescuers no longer respond to reports in the dark, because seals are known as aggressive predators that are not easy to catch. “And then safety comes first.” Bart nevertheless called for the help of two employees of EHBZ (First Aid for Marine Mammals) from Noordwijk, because the animal had already been bitten by a dog. “And then you still want to offer help.”
With three men they managed to get the young seal into a basket in the dark. At the Bloemendaal Rescue Brigade post, the net around the animal’s neck was cut loose. “That was not easy,” says Bart. “They fought and bit around. They are not nice animals in distress. They don’t know that we are helping them.”
Healing sea water
After removing the net, the seal appeared to have a serious wound. “But they have a thick layer of fat. It heals fastest in seawater.” So the seal was taken to the quiet beach of the Noordvoort nature reserve between Zandvoort and Noordwijk and released there. “We prefer to let nature do its healing effect as much as possible.”
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“We did give it a colored dot. Then we can check whether it returns to the beach and then keep an eye on how the animal is doing.” Coloring a seal is done more often when stranded seals are released again.
Banana pose
By the way, seal watcher Bart emphasizes that there is often nothing wrong with a seal on the beach. “NNine times out of ten they are fine and just resting. If they are in a ‘banana position’, they are completely relaxing.”
Bart describes how the seal then lies on its back with its head and butt up. In the shape of a banana. Then there is no need to call the animal emergency number 114.