Heartbreaking moment young seal is found being suffocated by plastic waste it got tangled around its body while swimming off Connecticut coast

A young gray seal was found dead from plastic debris while swimming off the coast of Connecticut on Monday.

The young seal was reported to the Mystic Aquarium rescue team on Sunday and was found in a devastated condition on Block Island the next day, Earth Day.

Rescuers found the helpless animal tangled in pink plastic gillnets and nylon rope, writhing in pain. It is the third case in the region within a week.

The young female was successfully placed in a crate on the beach at North Light and transported via the Block Island Ferry to Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Program.

The rope had cut deeply into the creature’s fins as it tried to swim out of the net.

The young seal was found dead from plastic waste on Block Island, the third such case this week according to rescuers

Disturbing footage shows the seal barking in pain as the Aquarium’s maritime specialists tried to free it from the coarse rope and mesh.

Six people must assist veterinarian Natalie Noll in examining the seal, taking blood samples and treating the wounds.

After release, the animal was responsive and in good condition, said Sarah Callan, manager of Animal Rescue at Mystic Aquarium.

‘The dangerous thing about such young animals is that they grow quite quickly’ Callan told the Boston Globe.

“If we had not reached this animal when we did, the consequences of this entanglement during its growth could have been very significant,” she explained.

“It’s very easy to separate the waste we throw away at home because we don’t see where it ends up,” Callan said of the waste that had endangered the seal’s life.

Disturbing footage shows the seal barking in pain as the aquarium’s marine specialists worked to free it from the coarse rope and mesh

Rescuers found the helpless animal entangled in pink plastic gill nets and nylon rope

“Even though you may not be the one throwing it in the ocean or throwing it on the beach, much of the trash we use every day ends up in the ocean one way or another.”

It will likely take weeks before the young seal gets a clean bill of health and can be released back into the wild.

“It is very fitting that this seal is stranded on Earth Day,” Callan told the Globe.

“It makes saving it and the story more important to us. We can all learn from this case and it sends a great message that there is a lot of debris out there… Every individual effort plays a role in the big picture for these animals.”