By Stephen Messenger, Source: TreeHugger

For any plump sea-faring animal, the ocean is a scary and foreboding place full of sharp-toothed predators looking for a tasty meal — but for one unlucky seal pup off the coast of New Zealand, the jaws of near-death were decidedly skimpier.

Last week, authorities from the NZ Department of Conservation were called out to stretch of coastline known as Lover’s Leap after receiving reports of an animal in distress. When rescue crews arrived, they found a young seal which had gotten its head dangerously entangled in the most unlikely of ocean debris: a G-string.

Fortunately, DOC officer Jim Fyfe and his partner were able to wrangle the seal pup from grib of that sexy swimwear — quite likely saving the animal’s life, while at the same time making for one of the team’s most memorable work stories.

“We got it early enough. Quite possibly, given that it was fabric, it would have rotted off, but you can never tell,” Fyfe tells Otago Daily Times. “We usually don’t have a second chance when people see things; if we leave it any length of time, the animal would be gone.”

Aside for the beachgoer presumably left bottomless by the missing swimwear, the story has a happy ending — after all the seal seemed no worse for the wear from its G-string experience. But if the animal’s rescuers have their way, it gets better yet.

Due to the popularity of the seal’s scanty plight, the good folks at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation decided to donate the offending G-string to be auctioned by a Our Far South, an organization aimed at preserving local fauna from threats of all shapes and sizes, with all proceeds going towards programs to protect imperiled wildlife.

This item highlights the risk of rubbish entering into our oceans. As we saw in our Our Far South trip rubbish from all over the world ends up in the Southern Ocean and on our subantarctic islands and threatens wildlife unnecessarily. Please discard of rubbish thoughtfully.