Heartbreaking images show an exhausted seal with plastic sheeting wrapped so tightly around its neck it was slowly choking to death.

The terrified male was found on the rocks by St Mary’s Lighthouse off the coast of Whitley Bay, by mum Vicki Sinclair.

The 37-year-old raised the alarm after spotting the seal fighting for breath after the heavy tarpaulin became tangled around its neck.

Harrowing footage shows the seal struggling to move across the rocks after it was spotted last Wednesday (20/4).

The mum-of-three, from Killingworth, Tyneside, managed to move the seal off the rocks to prevent it from drowning.

However, she was unable to remove the plastic from its neck and called the British Divers Marine Life Rescue charity.

Vicki said: "I was down at St Mary's Lighthouse as part of my dolphin watching group, the Newbiggin-by-the-sea Dolphin Watch.

"We tried to catch some sight of any dolphins and we spotted this seal with something round its neck.

"I went down on the rocks to try and help it. It was stuck between two rocks with tarpaulin on.

"The water was coming in thick and fast. It was a case of do we get the bag off but it still be stuck and drown, or try and get from between the rocks.

"You could tell the seal was panicking. It was awful. I could not remove the plastic from around its neck.

"The tarpaulin was really tight around the neck. It was struggling.

"I don't know how the tarpaulin got wrapped around its neck, but seal pups are inquisitive - chances are it swam towards the tarpaulin and gone to play with it.

"A couple of weeks before this incident, I reported another seal in distress which was wrapped in fishing wire."

Vicki contacted the British Divers Marine Life Rescue who sent a medic down to the site to help the seal and a day later the animal was finally free.