Norfolk wildlife campaigner urges government to ban plastic flying rings to protect seals

A wildlife campaigner is calling on the government to ban the sale of plastic flying rings in shops, in a bid to protect seals.

The rings have resulted in numerous cases of seals suffering severe injuries, especially along the Norfolk coastline, after getting the toys deeply embedded in their neck.

Five years ago, Jenny Hobson, a member of the Friends of Horsey Seals volunteer group started a campaign urging shops to stop selling the toys.

Despite some success, the retired social worker who lives near King's Lynn, told ITV News Anglia that larger chain stores have continued to sell them cheaply.

"We’ve been running a campaign for five years now and there’s been a fantastic response, particularly in Norfolk where a number of the smaller independent shops have stopped selling the rings," she said.

"But across the country and including in Norfolk you can go into any sizeable town and you will find plastic flying rings available for sale, in for example the big national chain stores where you can buy them for as little as a pound.

"I have been trying to contact the big shops and the suppliers and the vast majority have not responded to our appeal to swap the flying rings for something solid, which is seal-friendly.

"So it does seem now that the only way is to appeal to the government."

In 2022, the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk resolved to ban plastic rings from its council-owned beaches.

The RSPCA has also urged people not to use flying rings as seals around the UK are protected wild animals.

Ms Hobson wants people to stop taking flying discs to the coast and use solid ones so seals cannot poke their heads through.

Her petition will need to receive at least 100,000 signatures to be considered for debate in Parliament.

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