Photo: Tasmania Police
The early hours of Boxing Day brought a surprise for a few families in Tasmania.
Instead of gifts forgotten by Santa, or discovering a significant discount on products on their wish lists, a couple of people in a suburb of Tasmania woke up with an Australian fur seal. It had turned up on their street, which was about 50 kilometers (80 miles) away from the ocean, and was spotted while sitting on cars in the neighborhood.
The first sighting was at approximately 5:45 am, and the adult male then climbed onto the roof of a vehicle. From there, the seal jumped in an acrobatic move onto another car, which was parked behind it. The second car, a Toyota Camry, suffered minor damage, and the same happened to the first automobile.
The family that owned the cars said that the repair costs involved are not that important, and even affirmed that it did not matter because the vehicles were old, and you do not get to see a seal on your car every day. Along with a broken windscreen, the vehicles have several dents on their bodies, including the roof and the hood.
According to Australia’s ABC, this event was not the first time when a seal was spotted in the area. Fortunately, nobody was harmed by the animal, which weighs about 200 kilograms (440 pounds) at maturity. The creature was safely tranquilized and captured by the officers of the Parks and Wildlife Department.
The people living in the neighborhood had to remain in their homes for a few hours, because the police blocked off the suburb street to prevent any potential incidents with the animal, which might have been scared by a crowd or other human interaction.
The animal was dubbed “Lou-Seal” by local authorities, who explained that fur seals tend to do unusual things in this time of the year, because they are experiencing hormone-induced thrills that precede their mating season. The mammal will be released back into a nearby waterway when it wakes up from the effects of the tranquilizers.
The first sighting was at approximately 5:45 am, and the adult male then climbed onto the roof of a vehicle. From there, the seal jumped in an acrobatic move onto another car, which was parked behind it. The second car, a Toyota Camry, suffered minor damage, and the same happened to the first automobile.
The family that owned the cars said that the repair costs involved are not that important, and even affirmed that it did not matter because the vehicles were old, and you do not get to see a seal on your car every day. Along with a broken windscreen, the vehicles have several dents on their bodies, including the roof and the hood.
According to Australia’s ABC, this event was not the first time when a seal was spotted in the area. Fortunately, nobody was harmed by the animal, which weighs about 200 kilograms (440 pounds) at maturity. The creature was safely tranquilized and captured by the officers of the Parks and Wildlife Department.
The people living in the neighborhood had to remain in their homes for a few hours, because the police blocked off the suburb street to prevent any potential incidents with the animal, which might have been scared by a crowd or other human interaction.
The animal was dubbed “Lou-Seal” by local authorities, who explained that fur seals tend to do unusual things in this time of the year, because they are experiencing hormone-induced thrills that precede their mating season. The mammal will be released back into a nearby waterway when it wakes up from the effects of the tranquilizers.
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