Natureland Seal Sanctuary in Skegness has been rescuing, rehabilitating, and re-releasing orphaned and injured seals since it was founded by John Yeadon in 1965.
Today Daisy Yeadon, John’s granddaughter, is co-director of Natureland with her cousin Matt. Along with a small team, they rescue between 60 to 70 seal pups each year.
However, Daisy estimates that COVID-19 and associated restrictions have cost Natureland upwards of £300,000 and, without visitors, the sanctuary itself stands little chance of survival.
With the third lockdown in place, Natureland is completely closed and has no regular income. If funds run out, so too does the luck of vulnerable seal pups.
However, the team at Natureland is determined to continue the important conservation work. Daisy said: “The welfare of our animals is top of our list and we have to keep things running as normal.”
Rescued pups begin their rehabilitation at Natureland in the seal hospital.
On average, the rehabilitation of one seal pup costs Natureland £2,000. More than £300 is spent weekly on frozen fish for the rescued seals.
The care of full-time residents (penguins, meerkats, sheep, and an unruly goat called Henry to name just a few) brings the bill up to over £6,000 per month.
For Daisy, this financial strain is a constant concern and she said: “With no one coming through the door we have no money coming in and it’s really worrying.”
Natureland has outdoor enclosures and thus had the option to open to the public before the third lockdown took hold.
However, the precautions necessary due to COVID-19 were a further drain on funds, especially at the quietest time of year.
Daisy added: “There are so many extra costs. You’ve got to provide hand-sanitiser and paint the floor with signs saying ‘this way’ for the protection of visitors.
“It’s easier to not have to think about that and focus on the animals’ welfare.”
Natureland rescues between 60 to 70 seal pups per year.
Faced with these vast outgoings, Natureland has set up a Justgiving page with a goal of £100,000.
They still have a long way to go, but Daisy is grateful for everything Natureland has received so far.
She said: “Our supporters have been the best thing to come out of all of this. They just donate, they don’t want anything in return.
“These people have been affected by COVID as well, they have lost their jobs, they’re making less money, but they are helping us with anything they can.’
Once pups reach a desired weight they are moved to the rearing pool with the other rescued seals.
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on February 24, Daisy expects to reopen Natureland’s outdoor enclosures on April 12.
Although this does provide a glimmer of hope, the sanctuary faces a further month without income, and there are more orphaned seal pups in the North Sea in need of Natureland’s help.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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