Wandering seal puts a big dent in Christmas celebrations
A LARGE seal has been captured by wildlife authorities in Australia after it wandered into a Tasmanian suburb and climbed on top of a car, smashing its windscreen and denting the roof.
The Australian fur seal – which has been dubbed “Lou-seal” by local police – was spotted around 5.45am in the suburb of Newstead, near Launceston, yesterday.
Astonished neighbours immediately called the police, who cordoned off the area surrounding the seal, which weighed around 440lbs.
It had already climbed on top of one neighbour’s car before police were able subdue the wayward animal with a tranquilliser.
“We got up and there was this great big seal on the roof of the car which is definitely not what you’d expect on Boxing Day,” William Gregory, who first spotted the animal, told ABC News.
“You kind of wake up and you wonder, is this really happening, am I really seeing this or am I still dreaming?”
Mr Gregory appears to have seen the funny side of the incident, and said he was unperturbed by the damage to his car. “We’ll replace the windscreen and pop a few dents out, they’re just old cars so it doesn’t really matter. It’s worth it,” he said.
Rachel Alderman, a wildlife biologist, said: “At this time of year, it’s not unusual for us to locate fur seals in rather strange locations. Seals are inquisitive ...[it] could have been following food.”
Tasmania police had the adult male seal examined by a vet before arranging for it to be returned to the wild.
Newstead is more than 30 miles from the sea, but it lies near the North Esk river, which flows into the Tamar river and then on to the Bass Strait.
The seal reportedly had a brief snooze next to the car it had damaged before police arrived on the scene.