Yoshiko Cowell writes;

The Otago Daily Times showed one of the problems that the NZ sea Lion faces as a result of the rubbish in the oceans. This can have tragic consequences and the sea lion featured faced certain death if it were not for the Department of Conservation staff removing a nylon line which was wrapped tightly around his neck and causing a 1.5cm deep wound. It was thought that because sea lions are very playful that it had found this piece of nylon in the water and began playing with it.  The sea lion was a 3 year old male and does not reach full size until it is around 6 years of age. The bulk of the growth for males is around the neck area which ends up looking like a mane and this is where the Sea Lion gets the name “Lion” from. As a result of growing it would have ended up killing the sea lion, not to mention the pain it has and would have suffered. The sea lion was first spotted 2 months ago in the Otago Harbour and was tracked to Shag River recently. As the sea lion is a wild animal, it had to first be caught (not easy) in a net and then injected with a sedative. The nylon thread was then removed and  sea lions have an excellent ability to heal from wounds.

Department of Conservation staff said that entangled netting, nylon threads and strapping was removed from about 3 seals per year.