Giant elephant seal weighing 500kg reappears along Victoria's coastline

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Just days after causing havoc in Port Phillip Bay in Australia on Friday last week, an elephant seal reappeared on a Mornington Peninsula beach. A regional operations manager with Victoria’s Conservation Regulator, Gleen Sharp said that he helped coax the massive seal away from danger last week. 

He said, “I was handed an oar, and was trying to get it back to the beach and into the water.”

It was a “large, large animal.” He said that despite being 500 kg the animal was pretty quick, Guardian reported. 

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The seal’s rescue effort on Friday began after the Police and Parks Victoria responders blocked the traffic to give the aquatic animal space to make its way back to sea. But the seal then turned around and went up into a local service station. 

The officials suspect the reason for the seal going down the road in Port Lonsdale was that it was being harassed. The officials also reported that they heard dogs barking at the seal and Sharp also said that the people were getting too close and were taking selfies. 

“We believe it was trying to retreat somewhere to safety.”

Sharp added that at the service station, the seal saw its reflection on the glass and defended itself. “That meant breaking the glass.” “Unfortunately, it did probably sustain a couple of cuts.”

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Similar instances occurred on Saturday at Blairgowrie, Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, and a similar appearing seal popped up. 

Sharp explaining the occurrence said that “it is unfortunate...because it is pretty popular there.”

He also said that the worst thing people can do is jeopardise their return home. He strongly discouraged people from feeding the seal. “The last thing we want is to make it reliant upon human interaction.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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