A kayaker based in Namibia captured his encounters with numerous baby seals trapped in netting and how he cut them free with a line cutter on May 11.
Schalk Louw, who filmed these rescues, caught the seal pups in a specially designed blue net after the mammals had become entangled.
“We got a net from a good friend in California to help aid us in our rescues. We’re testing it out and it works well with the small pups. In the video, Naude is using the net to catch a pup caught in fishing line and I used my line cutter to assist him and to cut the pup free,” said Louw.
In another rescue, the kayaker manages to catch a seal by its tail that had fishing lines around its neck.
Louw told Newsflare: “My line cutter could not cut through the line without having to use excessive force. Thankfully Francois was there with his Leatherman so he cut the lines off and the pup was free to play again.”
Footage shows a herd of seals on a beach in Namibia running towards the sea while the filmers chase them with a blue net. The bag is then placed in front of a baby seal who runs directly inside.
A specially placed zip on the bag is opened where the head of the seal is and the rescuers then use their cutters to remove the netting.
The filmers show how they hold the puppy’s head down with some force because of the strength evident in the sea mammal. However each seal then happily flees to the sea, free from the manmade trapping.
