A conservation charity has published images showing a fisherman throwing a bottle at a grey seal from a cliff in Torquay, England, sparking outrage on social media.
The photos, taken Sunday at Hopes Nose by The Seal Project’s Duncan Kenny, show the illegal action in sequence, and the seal’s reaction as the bottle either strikes the pinniped or lands close to the animal.
The Seal Charity, which has notified authorities, was involved in a litter cleanup at the time of the incident.
“Whilst there, we observed 2x wildlife entanglements (herring gull, grey seal), high levels of litter (including alcohol and food waste) and multiple fire sites,” The Seal Project wrote on Facebook. “This was not the worse part though. We observed multiple examples of antisocial behavior by anglers and campers. In one instance an angler intentionally threw a glass bottle directly at a grey seal.”
Fishermen often become frustrated when seals show up to prey on fish after they’ve been hooked.
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Some of those commenting on The Seal Project’s Facebook post took issue with the term “angler,” not wanting all anglers to be portrayed as not caring about the environment.
In a separate post, Kenny, a researcher with the charity, wrote: “We acknowledge that the unacceptable actions of the anglers observed yesterday are not representative of all anglers.”
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Littering and “antisocial behavior” by some fishermen and campers apparently are common problems at Hopes Nose.
A sampling of the more popular comments on the Facebook thread:
- “Please do not call these people anglers! They are not! Mainly they are fishing illegally for profit and destroying the area. Real anglers take what they took back with them. The amount of wildlife I have saved when fishing is unreal. There are lots of us anglers who share the passion of fishing but also enjoying the environment and respecting nature.”
- “Thank you for cleaning up, but this is getting worse and worse. It’s heartbreaking. Surely the time has come for all camping and angling from Hopes Nose to be prohibited. I know there are decent anglers, but the welfare of wildlife has to come first, as clearly the community is not self-policing.”
- “Great job, massive thank you to everyone involved. Perhaps it is time to introduce licenses and permits like they have for freshwater angling. No license/no permit no entry.”
- “I’m an angler and I sit and laugh at the wee seal when he dives and steals my fish. It’s nature. Why anyone would do this is beyond me as we are visiting his space and not the other way [around].”
–Images are courtesy of The Seal Project