A baby seal has been rescued after it got stuck on rocks at a popular Welsh beach on New Year’s Day. The incident happened at Aberavon Beach near Port Talbot on Sunday.
A member of the public spotted the seal and then alerted the local RNLI team, who stayed with the stricken mammal until members of the UK Coastguard arrived at the beach. You can get the latest WalesOnline newsletters e-mailed to you directly for free by signing up here.
The area was busy at the time of the rescue, with people out and about with their dogs and some enjoying a New Year’s Day swim. A spokesperson for Port Talbot Coastguard said: “This morning (Sunday), the team was tasked for a 2nd time on New Year’s Day. This time, it was to assist RSPCA with an extraction of a baby seal who got stuck on the rocks on Aberavon Beach.
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“Crew members from RNLI Port Talbot stayed with the seal and kept it comfortable until we arrived. Members of our team, along with RSPCA, carefully put the Baby Seal into a safe animal care bag and transported it to the waiting vehicle. Fantastic work by all and another great outcome.”
Rachel Thomas, deputy launch authority at RNLI Port Talbot, said: “I started my duty launch authority shift at midnight thinking that with most still recovering from the night’s festivities, it would be a quiet start. Little did I know what was about to take place when the first member of the public attended the station. With no standard operating procedure for seal rescues, my training kicked in with an dynamic risk assessment.
“The tide was on the flood, and the beach was full of people and dogs, with a New Year’s Day swim event just about to start. Following procedure, I called HM Coastguard who were able to provide the contact details for the RSPCA. They agreed to dispatch an officer but couldn’t provide an estimated time of arrival. I took the decision to divert a member of the shore crew to protect the seal from dogs and curious members of the public while we waited for professional help to arrive.”
An RSPCA inspector also attended the scene and Holly, as the seal was named, was placed in in a specialist carry all and taken to a waiting vehicle to be looked after.
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