Thursday, 27 February 2014

Seal deaths caused by propellers break environmental law, ministers warned

Wildlife groups write to UK and Scottish parliaments seeking a ban on covered propellers blamed for horrific 'corkscrew' injuries


theguardian.com, Wednesday 26 February 2014 07.00 GMT

Ministers are breaking environmental law by failing to prevent harbour seals from being sliced to death by ships' propellers, according to a coalition of 13 wildlife groups.

The groups have written to the UK and Scottish governments demanding immediate area bans on the covered propellers blamed for inflicting horrific "corkscrew" injuries on hundreds of seals and porpoises.

Declining populations of harbour seals on the east coast of Scotland could be wiped out, they warn. This would expose ministers to multimillion pound fines for breaching the European habitats directive, that gives the seals legal protection.



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