Seals have inhabited Ireland's coastline for more than 7,000 years, and the country's native grey seals and common seals play a pivotal role in balancing the ocean's ecosystem. In the early 1900s, the animals nearly vanished from Irish seas due to overhunting, but since they received federal protection in 1976, their numbers have started to recover.
Yet, these days the animals face a host of new threats, from fishing nets and dwindling food supplies to climate change that warms their waters. But for more than a decade, the charity Seal Rescue Ireland has been rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing orphaned and sick seals from across the country in their Wexford, Ireland facility. Last year alone, they rescued 170 seals.
BBC's The Travel Show recently paid them a visit as they got ready to release one of their most famous residents yet.
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