UK seal populations of grey and common seals face welfare threats from entanglement in fishing gear, plastic debris, disease, and illegal disturbance at haul-out sites.
Seal welfare in UK waters encompasses acute welfare events — entanglement injuries, disease mortality — and chronic welfare impacts from tourism disturbance and plastic pollution. PDV outbreaks cause mass suffering; individual seals in late-stage infection are in severe respiratory and neurological distress. Entanglement by plastic debris including fishing line and packing bands causes progressive injury as animals grow. Tourism disturbance at pupping colonies in autumn can cause mothers to abandon pups prematurely, condemning newborns to starvation. Seasonal disturbance exclusion zones during pupping prevent this welfare harm.