Seals disturbed in Robin Hood's Bay by 'ignorant' and 'abusive' runner
Yorkshire Seal Group has put out an appeal to identify the individual
Yorkshire Seal Group has issued an appeal to find an 'ignorant' and 'abusive' runner who disturbed a group of seals in Robin Hood's Bay.
It happened yesterday (Thursday 6th January) in the village and people are being urged to help identify the individual for police to follow-up. The runner was last seen on the beach at around 10.50am moving in the direction towards Boggle Hole and Robin Hood's Bay.
On Facebook, Yorkshire Seal Group said: "Whilst the majority of Yorkshire coast residents and visitors are polite and supportive of our work, our seal stewards unfortunately still deal with an ignorant and abusive minority who disrespect our shores and iconic wildlife.
"Today the runner shown in this video was engaged by our stewards at one of our sensitive sites to offer advice on how best to access the shore to minimise disturbance to the hauled-out seals. He stated “I am not interested and you can f*ck off). He proceeded to the intertidal zone with haste causing a severe stampede of over 100 resting seals some of whom were pups and still maternally dependent.
"This level of disregard and lack of ocean literacy undoubtedly caused numerous injuries to the fleeing seals and may take the life of some of our pups who have suffered horrendous mortality rates following storm Arwen already.
"All the seals impacted by this disturbance event would have, at the very least, depleted their energy reserves escaping the threat, and did not return by the end of the day including mothers that were weaning pups.
"The runner was last seen running on the beach at 10.50 on the 6th Jan moving in the direction towards Boggle Hole and Robin Hoods Bay. We ask all our supporters to share these sorts of posts to raise awareness as to the plight of our iconic seals and in a bid to identify the individual for police to follow-up, business owners may have CCTV of the runner within the town. Your support is greatly appreciated as always."
You can watch the video here: