news, local-news

A wayward seal appears to have traded the open ocean for a life on the land. The protected Australian fur seal travelled 20 kilometres upstream and was spotted near a dam on a farm at the Nile, near Evandale yesterday. The owner of the property, while out on her morning jog, spotted what she first thought was a deer lying down in the paddock. Going closer, she realised it was a seal when it reared up and barked at her. Parks and Wildlife officer Matt Jones was called to the property and said it was unusual to see a seal that far inland. Even more surprising was that the seal had waddled 3 kilometres across paddocks and through fences before it reached the dam. ``I usually get a couple of call-outs to seals a year, but this one had certainly come a long way,'' Mr Jones said. He said the male seal would have travelled up the Tamar and Esk rivers chasing native fish before embarking on its inland journey across farmland. Mr Jones said the seal was in reasonably poor condition possibly due to the heat and lack of food, but seemed quite comfortable when it was captured by Parks and Wildlife officers. Mr Jones said the seal would be held overnight, cleaned and fed before being released on the North-West Coast where it would make its way to breeding grounds near 10th Island.

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