Grey and common seals in UK waters face ongoing welfare threats from entanglement in fishing gear, plastic pollution, shooting and harassment at haul-out sites.
Entangled seals suffer progressive injuries from tightening rope or netting around their necks and flippers — injuries that cause chronic pain, infection and eventual death if not treated. Shooting of seals at fish farms, while legally licensed in some circumstances, causes acute suffering when wounds are not immediately fatal. Disturbance at pupping beaches in November-January causes pup abandonment and hypothermia death in young animals.