Chubby is good: the young pup is in good health. She clearly has access to enough food through her mother's milk and plenty of fish in the sea. On one of her exploration trips to catch fish she unfortunately got herself entangled in a loop of black plastic strap. We do not know if she even saw it, or if she was playing with it, but the ocean rubbish stayed on her neck. It is a recent entanglement, there is no sign of a wound of even discomfort. She was lucky she was rescued so soon. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

When Covid lockdown started in Namibia more than 2 years ago, we used our wide open schedules to rescue seals. No more distractions, just daily rescue missions. Without tourists in the country, we had the beaches and the seal reserve at Cape Cross to ourselves. We were always worried how an increase in tourism would affect our work, and today we got the answer: great! We had already packed up for the day, ready to go home and count our rescues on our GoPro footage, when a group of tourists reported an entangled seal. The rescue team quickly caught the seal, removed a piece of packing strap from a deep wound around her neck, and let her go again. She was skinny, but still strong enough to make a full recovery. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

Will he survive? We do not know. We do not often see severe and painful entanglements like this one. Most animals probably would not have made it for so long. He is strong and the wound was surprisingly clean, but we could smell the infection from deep inside. We hope he will make it, and we know that we tried our hardest to save his life. It is hard to watch the whole rescue, it was very hard to do the rescue in the first place. It is the third video with a 'GRAPHIC' warning within two weeks, they are a constant reminder that our wildlife is under serious threat because of human negligence and failure. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

First he shows us his angry side, but once the OCN rescuers remove a piece of recreational fishing line from his neck, he stays completely calm, as if we was pretending to be either invisible or dead. This kind of reaction could very well be the shock from the rescue, but we always hope that the animal feel the instant relief once their entanglements is no longer restricting their breathing or ability to move freely. In a better world, rescues would not be necessary at all. In a better world, fishing equipment would not be left behind on the beach or in the water, and entanglements would not exist. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

How does a bundle of fishing line like this end up in the water? It's easy. When the fish is biting, fishermen are in a rush to catch as much fish as possible. Time is money. If they miss their window of opportunity, the fish - in our case usually Snoek - will be gone again. So if the fishing line gets bundled up, there is no time to untangle. Instead, fishing line gets cut off from the big spool of even more fishing line, and the bundled up ball of fishing line ends up in the ocean. It is a shockingly normal and fairly accepted attitude. If other marine animals find themselves entangled, it is seen as an unfortunate collateral damage of this common practice. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

Shrink wrap is so popular because of its strength and its ability to protect irregular-shaped items. It is a cheap and practical way wrap plastic bottles in a way that they can be stacked on top of each other for storage and transport. Shrink is a proper single use plastic. It can only be used once and then it ends up on the ever growing heap of plastic rubbish. There is of course a great alternative available - re-usable crates. Unfortunately there are only very few crates in circulation in Namibia, and this seal almost died because of it. Nobody wants to see the connection between buying a few plastic bottles of water in a supermarket, and an entangled seal in the ocean far away, but it is there, and it will continue until we decide to end the plastic madness. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

The seal is not impressed with his rescue. He voices his displeasure by snarling at the OCN team when they move him around. What looked like a typical white packing strap turns out to be the elastic band of a hat. It is a bit elastic, which prevented the fabric from cutting into the seal's skin. The attached string would have soon hurt the pup, the rescuers are happy they found him early. It is an uncomplicated, quick rescue with very little trauma to the seal, hopefully he will never find himself in the same situation again. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

"Chaos" - Naude forgot to switch on his GoPro, a seal he just caught gets stuck in the rescue net, and the other OCN rescuers are trying to find and catch more entangled seals. The rescuers are used to it, they can adapt their rescue strategy on the go. They have to, they can never predict what is waiting for them. Some rescues are quick and easy, others take a long time and are physically and emotionally draining. Today they are lucky, the seal is not hurt yet, there is no wound. He seems a bit skinny, but now that he can move again, he will hopefully find himself some lunch and build up some fat. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia

No matter how slow and careful the rescue team approaches a group of seals, eventually the first one gets scared and runs away, and all the others follow. They are no match to us on land, we usually reach them before they can escape to safety. We always target the vulnerable seal: the one with entanglement. The team does not enjoy this moment one bit when often hundreds of seals panic and run away in complete terror, anticipating the worst. We sincerely hope that all seals realize that we let their friend go, and that the mass stampede was a false alarm. We usually patrol different groups of seals, we do not want to stress the same group of animals relentlessly. They need to know that they are safe, we are in their habitat. To find out more about our work, please like, comment, share and subscribe to our videos and visit: https://www.ocnamibia.org/ https://gogetfunding.com/Seal/ https://www.patreon.com/OCN Merchandise available at: https://ocnamibia.myspreadshop.com/ https://twitter.com/OCNamibia https://www.instagram.com/oceanconservationnamibia/ https://www.facebook.com/OCNamibia