A SEAL has died after a discarded fishing line became tangled so tightly around his mouth that he could barely breathe.

The RSPCA said concerned members of the public contacted it after spotting the seal in distress at Ravenscar, near Robin Hoods Bay and Inspector Lucy Green and animal collection officer (ACO) Martin Whiteley attended.

Inspector Green said: “When we arrived to find the seal, we were met with a very sorry sight.

"The poor animal was clearly in a lot of pain and really suffering, and so we secured him into a specially designed seal bag and carried him back up the beach and cliffs to take him to a vet as soon as we could.

“We could clearly see the fishing line was wrapped so tightly around his mouth that it was cutting into the skin, and had clearly been like that for several days - he must have been in so much pain, it was incredibly upsetting to see.”

The seal was taken to a vet, but despite best efforts to save him, the vet made the difficult decision to euthanise him, due to the extent of the injuries caused by the wire. The animal had also developed a severe infection in his nostrils and ear canal.

Martin said: “To think that this beautiful wild animal lost his life due to somebody failing to clear up after themselves is devastating.

"This awful situation could have been so easily prevented if whoever was using the fishing wire had just bothered to collect it up and dispose of it responsibly.”

The RSPCA revealed last month that the number of reports of wildlife injured by angling litter such as fishing line, weights and hooks, rose by 48 per cent between May and June this year.

The charity suspects that the easing of lockdown put in place by the pandemic, along with a spell of good weather, has seen a rise in people taking up outdoor activities such as fishing, causing an excess of discarded angling litter.