A seal was rescued after a discarded fishing net became tangled around it’s neck on a beach in Shetland.
The grey seal was saved by local resident Vincent Tonner, who found it close to a pier between Hoswick and Sandwick on the island.
Mr Tonner said he could quickly see that there was something wrong with the animal when he discovered it at the end of March.
However, upon closer inspection it became apparent the seal had gill netting cutting “at least an inch or two” into it’s neck.
Despite the deep and painful looking wound, Mr Tonner managed to free the mammal without any issues.
With no phone signal to call for help, he decided to let the seal go, with the injury appearing to have only “cut through fat” and not causing serious harm.
Mr Tonner said: “I had been out for a walk around the cliffs between Hoswick and Sandwick in Shetland looking at some of the archaeology in the area.
“I was walking up to a partially collapsed old pier and I saw the seal lying there, I could tell immediately it had something wrong with it as it saw me and wasn’t particularly fast in trying to escape like seals normally do.
“I could see it had something dragging along with it as it moved towards the sea.
“I knew if it got in the sea there was no way I would get another chance to help it so I ran and grabbed hold of the net just in time, of course it immediately turned and tried to bite me but I managed to roll it onto its back with my foot.
“I could see there was a gill net around its neck and that it had cut in very deep, at least an inch or two.
“It appeared to have cut through mostly fat and no further which was lucky.
He added: “Once I got it upright again I held on to it for a moment and I could feel it was still strong and agile so I knew it had a chance of recovery.
“As soon as I released it, it was off and straight into the sea, it swam away really well and surfaced again some distance away, I sat there for a bit and it came back really close and just sat and looked at me from the water, it was pretty cool. I think in the salty water it will heal up and be ok.”
Mr Tonner, who owns a Tonner Mechanical Services on Shetland, said marine pollution is an issue on the island along with “foreign gill nets”.
He explained: “Marine pollution around Shetland is something I feel very strongly about.
“I spend a lot of time wandering around cliffs and beaches in the more remote areas of Shetland and its a huge problem.
“I quite often end up dragging piles of nets back with me from my walks to dispose of them properly.
“If you ask the local fishermen they will tell you some worrying figures for the amount of foreign gill nets being used around Shetland at any given time. “