'˜Seal-ing' the deal in Mablethorpe - Local company rides to seal sanctuary's rescue

A Mabelthorpe seal sanctury says it can continue its vital work thanks to the big-hearted support of a Louth-based business.
Co-owner Chloe Drew pictured with six-week old male seal Toothless, who was recently rescued, and Sam Plowright from The Tractor Shop in Louth.Co-owner Chloe Drew pictured with six-week old male seal Toothless, who was recently rescued, and Sam Plowright from The Tractor Shop in Louth.
Co-owner Chloe Drew pictured with six-week old male seal Toothless, who was recently rescued, and Sam Plowright from The Tractor Shop in Louth.

The sanctuary rescues injured and abandoned seals and nurses them back to health.

A key part of their work involves using a quad bike to patrol the beach.

Staff describe the bike as a ‘lifeline’ because it has halved the time it takes to reach distressed seals.

But their rescue missions were jeapordised recently when the bike broke down.

Fortunatley, owners of The Tractor Shop in Louth have stepped in and given them a replacement bike.

They have loaned them a bike while the orginal is being repaired.

Dennis Drew, owner of the seal sanctury, told the Leader: “The rescue and release of seals plays a big part of our every day working life.

“Up until last year, we were using a LandRover to go onto the beach to save the seals but found this was taking up a lot of time - vital time we need, especially when seals are in distress.

“We decided to buy a quad bike (from the Tractor Shop) and it has come to be a vital lifeline in our rescue work.

“Thanks to he vehicle, it has cut down response times and means we can get to where we need to be quickly. We couldn’t do without it.

“I can’t thank the Tractor Shop enough because loaning us a replacement bike means we carry on our lifesaving work.

“On average, we rescue between 30 and 50 seals a year and we have a 100 per cent success rate at releasing them back into the wild.”

Sam Plowright, owner of The Tractor Shop, said he was more than happy to help out.

He added: “We headed up to the Seal Sanctuary on Monday to give them a quad bike on loan whilst the work is being done. We know about the vital work they do with the seals and we were happy to help them out.”