Sea lion brings traffic to halt

A LARGE sea lion brought traffic to a halt near Dunedin yesterday after it took a seat in the middle of the road.

A police spokeswoman said they received a call that a ‘‘large seal’’ was sitting in the middle of Taieri Mouth Rd, in Kuri Bush, at 11.39am.

It was causing traffic issues as cars were having to stop.

‘‘It appears the seal could not get to the beach from where it was because there was a lot of trees and foliage in the way,’’ she said.

Police arrived shortly after, but a member of the public had successfully ushered it 150m back on to the beach.

Department of Conservation coastal ranger Jim Fyfe said, despite not seeing it himself, it was likely to be a sea lion, rather than a fur seal, because of where it was found and its behaviour.

It was the time of the year when sea lions played ‘‘cat and mouse’’.

Females were searching for hiding spots along the coast while males were out wandering, trying to find the females and their pups, he said.