All in a day\'s work?

People often ask what a Ranger does on an average day, and the answer of “there’s no such thing as an average day” often seems as if we’re being elusive, but it’s true! Last week saw the St Abb’s Rangers undertaking a little unexpected seal wrangling.

A grey seal pup had decided to haul itself out of the water and had made its way up the beach and onto the coast path behind it where it was soaking up a bit of winter sun.

Seal pups look very approachable with their huge appealing eyes, but a bite from a seal is the worst type of animal bite you can get in the UK; they have very sharp teeth and carry some nasty diseases. So we needed to make sure that it was removed from the coast path and away from the public, but also keep ourselves safe whilst doing it.

Luckily the Property Manager, Liza Cole, had received training in seal first aid in a previous job, so she could assess the animal, declare it to be in good health, and make the decision to persuade the animal back into the sea rather than having to arrange a rescue. So Liza grabbed a fish box off the beach to shield her legs from the angry seal’s attempts to bite her and with the aid of the Marine Ranger, Georgia Conolly and two regular volunteers, managed to persuade the misguided animal to return to its natural environment.

Not every day as a Ranger is quite so exciting, but it prevents life getting boring for sure!