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More furry land invaders likely

Author
Alex Mason,
Publish Date
Tue, 16 Jun 2015, 5:25AM
One of Auckland visiting seals (NZME.)
One of Auckland visiting seals (NZME.)

More furry land invaders likely

Author
Alex Mason,
Publish Date
Tue, 16 Jun 2015, 5:25AM

As seal numbers grow, more and more of the furry creatures are waddling onto the shore and exploring inland Auckland.

More than half a dozen of the furry mammals have ventured into suburbia in the last three weeks.

Since the now-famous Papakura seal went for a nap in a car wash, six other seals have visited urban Auckland.

The latest appearance was from two young seals who wandered onto the Southern Motorway near the Papakura off-ramp yesterday.

DOC marine ranger Yuin Kai Foong has returned many of the visitors to the wild. At this time of year seals come up out of the cooling water to sun themselves on the rocks.

After being hunted almost to extinction, seal numbers have bounced back in recent years, Foong says.

"As these populations rebound we are seeing more and more of them."

"And they're just doing their natural behaviour, I guess, in larger numbers. Which puts them into sort of places of interaction with ourselves."

Foong said non-breeding adult seals that haven't managed to find a place in the colony will come out to spend time by themselves.

"Some of the slightly younger ones their mother will be out feeding and foraging for a longer period of time, so sometimes they just go for a little bit of a wander."

"Or they're just sort of finding their feet and will go for a bit of a walk."

While Aucklanders have grown accustomed to the sight of seals in the suburbs, DOC is urging people to leave them alone as much as possible.

Foong believes the public needs to appreciate that these animals are wild.

"They can sometimes look really cute with the big puppy dog eyes and you kind of want to give them a cuddle, and you can get quite close to them."

"But they are wild. And they can at any time sort of turn."

Seals have to fight for their place in their society, and they could attack an adult, young child or dog.

 

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