Block Island, RI – The anima rescue team of Mystic Aquarium has never been more busy.
Looking through the binoculars, the Sarah Callan program manager scanned the coast in search of an increasing problem in block Isand, Rhode Island, vangged seals.
When the fishing equipment, garbage or a balloon is wrapped around the neck of a gray seal, it is tense as the marine mammal, which can exceed 800 pounds, grows and can cause significant injuries or death.
Twenty gray seals tangled to the non -profit organization based in Connecticut have been reported so far this year; That is more than generally documented annually by Mystic.
Callan called the “alarming” spike.
NBC News received rare access to follow Mystic, working in association with the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society and the Block Island Maritime Institute, since they set out to unravel the seals born in recent months.
Callan and his colleagues flanked a group of seal puppies sunbathing at the edge of the water. The army took place in an attempt not to scare the flock, before running with bright red boards to separate the tangled puppy and pick it up with a network in a feat of impeccable speed and time.
Once the puppy was contained, the team took blood, joined a tracker for the investigation and released him from the fishing network that increased his neck.
“We will be able to launch the seal today and avoid having to bring it to our rehabilitation clinic,” said Callan, while the team worked. “The faster we can get out here to unravel them, the better.”
This is the same team that received a rebel seal stranded in the center of New Haven, Connecticut, in February. The seal puppy won the Internet with his big eyes and his sweet scream, and the public even voted his name, “Chaps”.
Unfortunately, he did not succeed, succumbing to gastrointestinal problems that were too serious to treat. In an online published statement, Mystic also said they found plastic pieces in their stomach, “highlighting the threat that marine debris, especially plastics, pose for marine animals.”
Some estimates suggest that plastic pollution kills more than 100,000 marine mammals every year.
“The amount of animals that interact with human manufacturing products and debris in the first two months of their life is a bit alarming,” said Callan, “and is directly related to the state of the ocean … We believe it is our work to help share that message and educate people about the threats they face.”
It is a growing fight that Mystic is not renouncing.
The team cheered, since the seal that is simply released from the network of the networks (the undulating movement stamps are used to move on the ground) back to the ocean.
“You can give an animal a second chance in life that they would not normally have without our intervention,” Callan said. “It’s such a special moment to see.”
