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Video: Wash. police free seal trapped in fishing net

The officers helped free the seal that is believed to be a threatened, rare species commonly found off the coast of Mexico

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Ocean Shore Police Sgt. Kyle Watson and Officer Chris Elia freeing a rare Guadalupe Fur Seal, who was trapped in a fishing net

Photo/ King 5 via video

By Police1 Staff

OCEAN SHORE, Wash. — Two Washington police officers rescued a rare seal trapped in a fishing net on a beach.

Ocean Shore Police Sgt. Kyle Watson responded to a call of a seal trapped in a fishing net on Jan. 7, according to local news station King 5. Rather than wait for wildlife officials, Watson pulled out a knife and started cutting the net.

“I figured if the animal went back in the water, it was going to die,” said Watson. “There’s no way it’s going to keep surviving in the water the way it has been.”

Watson and his partner, Officer Chris Elia, were able to keep the seal from biting them as they freed it from the netting and watch it hop back into the ocean.

Wildlife officials believe the seal was a rare Guadalupe Fur Seal, a threatened species commonly found off the coast of Mexico.