Heartbreaking images reveal the toll that Britain's plastic waste crisis is having on its seals.

Pictures show animals with plastic rings around their necks, some of which cut inches deep into their blubber, hindering the creatures' ability to move and hunt.

The RSPCA has warned that the number of seals with 'horrifying' injuries caused by plastic waste each year is at its worst in a decade.

Items causing such injuries - and even death - include fishing nets or pieces of plastic waste which are plighting areas of the coast, including Horsey beach in Norfolk.

Horsey is known for its vibrant seal population and is a popular spot for British seal tourism, with more than 1,600 pups born there last year. 

 

Pictured is a seal at Horsey beach in Norfolk with a plastic ring caught around its neck. It is one of several heartbreaking images that reveal the toll Britain's plastic waste crisis is having on its wildlife

Alison Charles, manager of the RSPCA's East Winch Wildlife Centre, Norfolk, said man made items left in the water or on beaches are killing seals every day.

'Seals are inquisitive, so they get caught in nets from fishing trawlers and the single nylon lines used in mackerel fishing, and frisbees - just all the rubbish that's out there,' he said.

'These poor animals are getting stuck and suffer horrendous and often terrible disgusting slow deaths.

'They cannot extend their neck, so they cannot fish. It is absolutely horrifying.'

The RSPCA has previously rescued and treated between two and four seals each year, and none at all before 2008.

But within the last year 10 seals have been rescued with plastic and metal rings around their necks, as well at rope and plastic nylon netting that they have become tangled in.

Pictures show animals with plastic rings around their necks that sometimes cut inches deep into their blubber, hindering the creatures' ability to move and hunt

The RSPCA has warned that the number of seals with 'horrifying' injuries caused by plastic waste each year is at its worst in a decade

Items causing such injuries - and even death - include fishing nets or pieces of plastic waste which are plighting areas of the coast, including Horsey beach in Norfolk

'It is never natural items, it is always plastic or metal or other things that should not be in the water,' Ms Charles said.

Pictured is a seal rescued at Horsey beach that was caught in a plastic fishing net

'I've even seen a seal with a bikini around its neck. As they get larger and larger, it cuts through the skin and they get an infection.'  

The Friends of Horsey Seals charity monitors seals along the Norfolk coast and described the situation as 'just horrendous'.

Ms Charles added that neither the RSPCA or Friends of Horsey were sure of the scale of injured seals on the Norfolk coast but that the numbers are growing each year.

Friends of Horsey volunteer David Wyse said it is extremely difficult to rescue female seals that are being strangled by frisbees.

In order to help any of the seals, they need to be isolated and weakened by infection before they can be captured. 

Mr Wyse said: 'The problem is that the females are about to give birth and any serious disturbance to the group could result in miscarriages.'

Once any of the seals are captured they are treated with antibiotics over several months, before being released.

However, the RSPCA this year had to put down a baby seal when its nose was severed by a nylon fishing line.

Ms Charles said: 'It had cut so deep, when I removed the ring I thought I had decapitated her.'

'I felt sick. It was brilliant when Blue Planet raised the issue of rubbish in our oceans - we had been saying it for years.'

Earlier this year the RSPCA released a seal known as 'Frisbee' back into the sea after she successfully recovered from life-threatening neck injuries that cut deep into her neck

Alison Charles, manager of the RSPCA's East Winch Wildlife Centre, Norfolk, said man made items left in the water or on beaches are killing seals every day

The RSPCA has previously rescued and treated between two and four seals each year, and none at all before 2008. But within the last year 10 seals have been rescued with plastic and metal rings around their necks, as well at rope and plastic nylon netting that they have become tangled in