Seal who had plastic disc stuck around neck for two years is finally released

A seal spotted with a plastic disc stuck around her neck more than two years ago has finally been released back into the wild.  

The animal, nicknamed Mrs Vicar by rescuers, was only freed from the white disk in April – but has now been nursed back to health and set free.

The 2.5cm-wide ring, thought to be a component used in large scale pipework, left the mammal with a 7cm-deep wound, which the RSPCA said was the worst injury of its kind that the charity had ever seen.

Concerns were first raised about Mrs Vicar off the Norfolk coast more than two years ago, before she was rescued in April 2021 and experts realised the severity of her injury, which some feared would kill her.

But on Tuesday, three months on from being caught at Horsey Beach and freed from the plastic, the seal was released into the River Nene at Lincolnshire’s Sutton Bridge on Tuesday.

She is expected to make her way back to the North Sea.

Plastic like that which injured Mrs Vicar can become caught around the marine animals’ necks, cutting into them as the animals grow bigger.

At least three seals are known to have had the same issue in recent years but it is likely that others have suffered similar fates and not made as strong a recovery as Mrs Vicar.

The adult grey seal was given salty baths to help the infected wound and after three months was deemed strong enough to return to the wild.

Several weeks later, she was moved to an outside pool where staff built up her strength further by getting her to swim from one end to the other for fish.

Alison Charles, a manager at RSPCA East Winch, previously said: ‘When I first saw how severe Mrs Vicar’s wounds were I was really worried she wouldn’t be able to make it.

‘It was just so severe and infected and you could smell the infected flesh, it was just awful.

‘When the ring was removed it then meant that her body released a huge swell of dangerous toxins, which she then had to fight off.’

She continued: ‘For the first few days she didn’t really move or show any signs of improvement – and although this is something we do see with necklace injured seals, it was still very worrying that she wasn’t going to pull through.

‘However each day there was a small sign of improvement and she started eating and her salt baths began to work on the infected wound.’

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