Seal rescue centre calls for ban on ring frisbees

Conservationists have called for ring frisbees to be banned on beaches

Wildlife campaigners have joined calls for frisbees to be banned from the Lincolnshire coast because of the dangers they pose to seals.

Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary said the toy plastic rings can kill animals and have called on councils to ban them.

Chloe Drew, co-owner and director of the rescue centre, said: "They don't rot, which means the animal will just grow and it [the ring frisbee] gets tighter around their neck."

East Lindsey District councillor Martin Foster said: "Whilst we cannot enforce bans on specific items, those who litter anything on our beaches or anywhere else in the district can and will be dealt with."

Foster said people who litter will be issued a fixed penalty notice of £250.

Ms Drew pleaded for people to buy normal frisbees without a hole in to reduce the risk of the items getting stuck on seals.

"If it doesn't kill them, it causes massive infection," she said.

Ms Drew added it is not just coastal animals it affects.

"If you're out in fields, you've got foxes, badgers, birds. Anything can get stuck on them," she said.

Chloe Drew, co-owner and director of Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary, wants people to buy frisbees without a hole in

Leanne Havell, who has been litter-picking at Sutton on Sea for more than a decade, agreed.

She described ring frisbees as "dangerous and hazardous".

Ms Drew said the wildlife rescue had only dealt with two seal injuries caused by frisbees in nearly 20 years, but credited the low number to people like Ms Havell.

"If we didn't have [the litter pickers], I would imagine we would have had a lot more [injuries]."

The UK Seal Alliance, a group made up of regional wildlife groups, has asked local authorities to introduce voluntary bans of the flying rings on their beaches.

Gareth Richards, vice chair of the group, said many seals "die a long and painful death" if frisbees get stuck around their neck.

Some councils in the UK, the latest being Neath Port council in South Wales, have already brought in a voluntarily plastic ring ban.

Some major retailers, like Sainsburys, Tesco, Pets at Home and coastal-located Asda stores have also stopped selling the items.

A voluntary ban means there are no fines or penalties, but Mr Richards hopes it will raise awareness and encourage more shops to stop selling the flying rings.

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