Seal rescued after getting trapped in rope in Portreath Harbour
A seal had to be rescued after getting its head caught in the rope of a buoy in Portreath Harbour, Cornwall.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) was called after a dog walker spotted the trapped seal on Monday 21 December.
When the rescue team arrived, they discovered the animal had a loop of rope twister around its neck which was being held in place by the buoy - meaning it couldn't escape.
Watch the moment the seal was rescued below
There was a strong swell and current running through the harbour so Dan Jarvis and Medic Nicole Ilett used ropes to tether themselves to other medics on the ground for safety.
Nicole restrained the pup, which was panicking, while Dan used a safety cutter to saw away at the ropes around its neck.
He first cut one of the loops and then cut away the buoy to slacken the remaining line.
The seal could then thrash its way out and safely escaped.
The BDMLR said: "It's very rare that we deal with seals in the water, so this was a very unusual callout for our team to deal with and a number of risks taken into account to ensure that it was done as safely as possible under the circumstances
"We do get quite a few calls like this each year, as seals are very curious animals that like to explore their surroundings, including playing with ropes like this one, even wrapping themselves in it, but invariably in almost all cases they are quickly and easily able to free themselves again."
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