Bizarre find in Aussie paddock after wild weather
"It isn’t something you see everyday”.
Tourists have made an unusual find after wild weather inundated Tasmania’s southeast coast.
Searching for Bruny Island’s renowned white wallabies, the group was about 1km inland down a gravel road when their guide made the discovery. Pushed up against a farmer’s fence at the edge of Captain Cook Creek was a large Australian fur seal.
Craig Parsey, the owner of Bruny Island Safaris, shared an image of the discovery online this week. He told Yahoo News Australia seeing a seal by the roadside “isn’t something you see everyday”.
“It does happen occasionally. Sometimes they go up a river or creek a bit further than usual,” he said. “So it’s not surprising with the conditions we’ve had recently — lots of rain, wind and storm activity.”
Dozens of Aussies have delighted in the seal find since details were shared on Facebook on Wednesday.
"How gorgeous! Wish I had seals in my paddock," one person wrote. "Or is this a new farming initiative because the lamb prices have crashed?" someone else joked.
I can't say I've seen a seal that far up before, but it has been unusually windy.Craig Parsey
What happened to the Bruny Island paddock seal?
The image shows the seal in a sodden paddock with rain falling around it. Distant hills are covered in thick forest. While it’s unusual to see seals in a farmyard setting, Bruny Island’s coast is well known for having both a permanent population of Australian fur seals and seasonal migrations of elephant seals from Antarctica.
While the inland seal was a spectacular discovery, it’s white wallabies that draw many tourists to Bruny Island. Because the wallabies were hiding from the rain, Mr Parsey said it was a “nice surprise” that the tour group got to see a seal instead.
It’s understood the seal has since made his way back to the beach.
Other strange sightings of displaced seals
Wild seals are remarkable to see in the wild, but tourists are always advised to keep their distance. In April, Tasmanian authorities had to warn rubberneckers to stay away from a 400kg male that was drawing large crowds in Hobart.
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Across the ditch in New Zealand, staff at a Bunnings hardware store were reportedly in disbelief after a disorientated seal wandered inside. They used heavy boxes of white goods to fence in the animal until authorities were able to help transport it back to sea.
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