New Zealander Annette Swoffer got the surprise of her life when she found a baby seal in her kitchen, who later began to snooze on her couch, the New Zealand Herald reports.
According to the report, the seal wandered from the bay waterfront, through a residential area, across busy roads, under a gate, through a cat door, and up some stairs before he was found at around 9:30 p.m.
"I thought 'I'm hallucinating, this is just wrong,'" Swoffer told the paper. "Then it looks at me with those huge brown eyes. It was so cute..."
Swoffer then called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), who called the Department of Conservation. According to a report by Stuff.co.nz, the department was already looking for the pup.
When biodiversity program manager Chris Clark came to pick up the animal, he told Swoffer he'd been looking for the seal all afternoon and that it had likely just been weaned from its mother.
Department of Conservation's Katrina Knill elaborated on the state of the New Zealand fur seal population in an email to The Huffington Post:
"seal populations are starting to recover in the western Bay of Plenty, and are believed to be breeding on Motuanau (Plate) Island, which is approximately 12km offshore.
At this time of year, young seals are dispersing from the rookeries. Seal pups may often spend days at a time alone, whilst the mother is away foraging for food.
Seals usually occupy rocky shores in places that have some protection from heavy seas and are often found resting on Bay of Plenty beaches.
Occasionally they travel inland (usually via estuaries and waterways). When on land they can become disoriented and have been found on previous occasions in unexpected places such as backyards, drains and streets.
Seals are wild animals and the Department's policy is to return them to the care of their natural habitat. Knill went on to write that seals can carry infectious diseases and injure humans, so members of the public should contact authorities if they see a seal in trouble or in an odd location.
What would you do in a situation like this? Would you kill the animal? Keep the animal? or Just set it free?
Please write in comlpete sentences and don't forget spell check
they should have a serious consequence towards them
ReplyDeleteI would most likely have done the same. I would have probably called the EPA (Environmental Protective Agency). The seal was more than likely confused and could have needed help.
ReplyDeletei would set it free
ReplyDeleteI Would keep it until it was found or i would free back into the bay so it can go back to were it came from to its family.I wouldn't kill just because its there and if i would have killed it the police would have found it and i would have gotten sued for killing it.If would have a disease i would have probably have noticed if not than i would still take it to the veterinarian even if they would take back because it probably not legal to own or have a seal.
ReplyDelete