My Sammy

It was the beginning of 2006. I had been reading various news articles online when I came across a story about a seal pup in the river Annan, Dumfriesshire.

The article told the story of a seal that had become a bit of a celebrity amongst the local people, they loved going and seeing him in the river, since he had first appeared, in the October. Whenever he was spotted in the river word would spread and people would flock to see him, the locals had taken this little character to heart.

The article however also highlighted that Nick Chisholm, the fisheries manager responsible for the salmon on the river Annan, had applied for a license to shoot Sammy, as he was depleting the salmon in the river.

At this stage I knew nothing, I was a blissfully unaware member of the public, nevertheless this to me seemed horrific.

I had recently heard about British Divers Marine Life Rescue, like millions of others, this charity had been highlighted, by the plight of the Northern bottlenose whale that had found it's way into the Thames, and they had fought to try and save her.
I had signed up to their forum and thought, I will put a post on and see if there is something that can be done!

Meanwhile I contacted SSPCA and was told it was perfectly legal, this was sounding oh so wrong to me. They said that he must prove that this seal was, in fact, responsible and they must have shown that this was the case, (I later found out that it is usually rubber stamped, as people don't have time to check)

I then badgered a few co-ordinators and one of the directors of BDMLR privately, desperate for any information that would help to save this seal.
Little did I know at the same time there were plans being drawn up to go and try to mount a rescue!

I got invited to join with the divers that were going, to help, would I like to go! would I ever. I was overjoyed that these people were going to save My Sammy

Word came through, that an attempt would be made to try and catch Sammy.
I was to be picked up by two BDMLR members from Aberdeen, and they would take me over to Dumfries.

We were at the river, by first light, crowd of reporters were there, filming what was happening. The team was headed up by Jamie Dyer, who worked with the Seal sanctuary in Oban, there were members of BDMLR, from Aberdeen, Montrose, Tayforth, Oban, and myself from Scottish borders.

Apparently Nick Chisholm had told the waiting press that Sammy had been in the river that morning, he had seen him! think is Jamie dyer had also seen the animal and it was an otter, yet another fisheater in the river along with the seabirds, and of course the fishermen who had been plundering this river for years.
But somehow or another none of that counted, it was this young common seal pup that was getting the blame for the depletion of the Salmon stocks in the river. I mention the fact that Sammy was a Common seal, because not only had he been identified, as an otter, but a license had also been sought to shoot him by Nick Chilsholm because he believed he was a Grey seal, and it was the closed season. This brings into question how accurate he was reporting this seal being in the river Annan.

However we sat down and had a talk with Nick Chisholm, he told us that he was worried about the spring Salmon, and that when they get to the weir, they were a sitting target until it got warmer and they were able to jump. He also said these were special spring Salmon because they were genetically different from all other Salmon! (this hadn't stopped them taking 500 fish a year)
I asked if there was no possibility of building up the weir, being close to the Tweed in my home town, I know that there have been a lot of alterations there to make the journey for the salmon easier, building up areas to allow smooth passage, but apparently the weir was owned by nuclear power and they weren't allowed to touch it. We were going to work together with the fisheries, they wanted this seal out of the river, we wanted this seal alive.

We spent the day on the river, and that turned out to be an eye opener, speaking to both fishermen and members of the public

We found out that far from Sammy being on the river every day, he was coming in about every 3 to 4 days, the rest of the time, he would no doubt be hauled out, with his kind on the Solway.

We also found out that Nick Chisholm had also already tried to shoot Sammy, he had pulled his shot and bloodied his nose after an old woman had stood forward and said he would need to shoot her first.

It's against the law to both, shoot across water, and if members of the public are in the vicinity.

We also heard from some people that Nick Chisholm had told them that Sammy was eating 70 fish a day, this is a Common seal pup for his size and weight, he would be consuming 3 fish per day, baring in mind he was in the river every 3 to 4 days,

We started to set up nets, this is a very fast and wide river, it would be difficult, but a plan was set...we waited, and waited and waited. Some went downriver towards the Solway, there was no sign of him.
This seemed to bear out what we were being told by the members of the public, he was not living in, or indeed even entering the river on a daily basis
We stayed until light went, no sign of Sammy was seen, it was arranged that a fresh attempt would be made another day.

This time I couldn't get transport over, but there was divers from the first time around, and joined by others from the north of England, again there was no sign of Sammy, and again, they were told that he's only coming in every few days, told by everyone, but as in the last instance Nick Chisholm who maintained he was there every day.

There was no choice, but to leave again. The understanding was if Sammy was coming in every day Nick Chisholm would get in touch, and we would go back again.

The next we heard was that Nick Chilshom had hired a sharpshooter, who had waited three weeks, looking for Sammy, before shooting him.

The community was outraged, the divers were outraged, I was outraged, but mostly heartbroken.


I have entitled this as My Sammy, not because I believe him to be a pet, not because I believe him to be mine, not even because it was me that highlighted his plight.
I have named this My Sammy because this is a description, of what happened in this one case, this is what happened with My Sammy, in reality there are thousands of Sammy's every year being shot, just because they eat fish.
The conservation of seals act offers no protection for any Sammy's, the vicinity of nets can mean 3 inches or 3 miles.
There is no one polices how many of these animals are shot, or indeed if it is justified in doing so.

A new law needs introduced to protect these animals, just now, there told what to use to shoot them, but nobody checks to see, that there is any fairness or justness in doing so.

For all injustices to all Sammy's not just My Sammy, something needs done.

Karen Kirk - Marine Mammal Medic
Galashiels