Leave the Seals Alone

Grey seal pupping season starts next month and Manx Wildlife Trust is asking people to be mindful when around the island’s coastline.

All seals in Manx waters are protected under the Manx Wildlife Act.

Grey seals will often haul themselves out of the sea and chillax around the island in quite public places, particularly beaches.

The charity is asking people to keep dogs on leads and not to approach any seals you may find on the coastline and if you do have any concerns about any seals to contact them and let their trained people deal with it.

MWT said: ‘Disturbance of a wild animal could range from deliberately causing a sleeping or resting seal to lift its head to look at you, to a panicked escape response. Depending on numbers, and up to 100 seals have been observed at the Point of Ayre, these behaviours can develop into the whole group looking up, turning towards the water, and ultimately moving rapidly into the sea to get away from the disturbance.

‘In some places, such as a gently sloping beach, this may not be too dangerous for the animals as they rush back into the water. However, in other areas where they have hauled up on the rocks, when the tide is in, this could now be a drop of several metres down to the water or to the next rock, once the tide has receded. Such a fall may severely injure a seal, and for pregnant animals or juveniles, this may injure or kill the pup.’

To report a disturbance issue please contact either MWT Marine Officer, Lara Howe, at lara@mwt.im or DEFA Senior Marine Environment Officer, Peter Duncan, at peter.duncan@gov.im