Elephant seal removed from Victoria golf club after moulting on fairway
CTV
A juvenile elephant seal found itself in an overnight lockup near Victoria on Sunday.
“It’s about 250 pounds – that’s our estimate and not very happy to deal with,” said Ian Fraser, senior animal control officer with Victoria Animal Control Services.
“We tossed in some fresh herring for him,” said Fraser. “This is outside the box that we normally do.”
It all started last week in View Royal, B.C.
“I think the first time [he was found] he was at home plate at Centennial Park,” said View Royal Mayor David Screech.
The elephant seal was allowing nature to run its course as it goes through its first catastrophic moult. It's a painful process that sees the seal shed its skin. Unfortunately in this case, the seal chose to do it on the baseball diamond.
“The fire department got involved that time,” said Screech.
For the safety of the seal and other animals, the View Royal Fire Department moved the seal back into the Gorge Waterway.
It was then spotted on a dock along the Gorge.
