Barely an hour after being rescued by police and a wildlife officer - and causing traffic to slow to a crawl in Middle Park - a fur seal crawled back onto busy Beaconsfield Parade.

Wildlife Victoria volunteer Amy Amato was called to the scene at 9.30am - one hour after she and two police officers herded the animal back into the water with a blanket.

A seal sunbakes in Port Melbourne.

"The fact he doesn’t want to stay in the water suggests he’s not well," Ms Amato told Fairfax. "He didn’t look 100 per cent.’’

Ms Amato and workers from the Melbourne Zoo caught the distressed animal in a container.