'Dozens of them have been washed up dead  -  mutilated by a macabre cutting wound, which begins at the neck and spirals around their bodies, slicing through their thick outer coat and blubber in a continuous incision, as if they had been fed through a huge pencil-sharpener.

Another colony of about 120 seals, 300 miles up the coast in Eastern Scotland, has been similarly hit. And since this second group has already been drastically depleted in recent years, the threat there is even more serious.'

Read more: What is Killing Britain's Seals?