Grey seals are thriving UK marine mammals but face welfare challenges from entanglement, boat strikes, and disturbance at haul-out sites.
Grey seal welfare at haul-out and breeding sites is significantly affected by human disturbance. Pups separated from mothers by human approach become hypothermic, starve, and die. Adults repeatedly flushed from haul-out sites lose resting time critical for digestion, immune function, and recovery. Entanglement in fishing gear causes traumatic injury including amputation and drowning. Conservation success has increased seal populations but also increased conflicts with fisheries, creating welfare pressures from legal shooting. Maintaining appropriate wildlife disturbance distances is the most accessible individual action for seal welfare protection.