Injured seal pup caught in discarded fishing net recovering in Vancouver

A tiny seal pup is being rehabilitated in Vancouverafter being found entangled with a discarded nylon fishing net cutting deep into her neck near Nanaimo, B.C. earlier this week.

MartinHaulena, thehead veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, says the incident isa stark reminder of the impact of carelessly discarded trash on animals.

"It's always hard to see these kinds of injuriesbecause they're entirely preventable," said Haulena.

The female pup, estimated to be five to six months old andunderweight, will be cared for by the rescue centre until she can be releasedback to her natural habitat.

In keeping with this year's athletic theme, the aquarium has named the pup Malleafter snowboarder Malle Ricker, the first Canadian woman to win Olympic gold on home soil at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The pup was first spotted tangled up in the netlast weekby someone onBluebackBeach inLantzvilleon Vancouver Island, but she swam away before she could be rescued.

On Wednesday this week, she appeared again and this timewas successfullybrought ashore by observers.

Volunteer wildlife rescue helicopter pilot NormSnihurtried to transport the seal to the rescue centrebutwas hampered by bad weather, so took the pup home and removed the net himself.

The pup was eventually brought to Vancouver by Harbour Air on Thursday.

"She's had fluids and antibiotics and she's responding well; she's alert and feeding well," said Lindsaye Akhurst, rescue centremanager.

Marine debris growing problem

According to the rescue centre, marine debris entanglement is a growing problem worldwide; this year alone the centre has treated 144 seal pups,one sea otterand disentangled several sea lions in the wild.

Haulena says pinnipeds seals and sea lions are particularly vulnerable to entanglementbecause of their curious nature.

"We usually see more sea lions with entanglements because of their foraging behaviour, where they travel and because they tend to haul out in large visible groups, but seals can become entangled just as easily."