KEY POINTS:
A furry vagrant tried to give police the slip in West Auckland early yesterday but they were too quick for him.
Two officers on night duty found themselves instead on fur patrol near New Lynn shopping centre when a Mobil service station attendant called for help after a customer saw a young fur seal wandering on Titirangi Rd around 3am.
Using a combination of coaxing and shooing, the officers and two members of the public corralled the animal into a corner of the forecourt and used wooden pallets to build a makeshift pen.
Police called Department of Conservation officer Karl McLeod to take the wanderer off their hands.
"He was in very good condition and healthy but a bit distressed and disoriented," Mr McLeod said.
The seal was about a year old.
Mr McLeod said fur seal numbers appeared to be ballooning around Auckland's coast after a century of legal protection but to find one wandering in deepest suburbia was unusual.
"Usually they are moving south at this time of year but we're getting a lot of animals staying around.
"They are coming back basically and reclaiming habitat they once occupied. That's why we're increasingly seeing them in an urban setting."
Three weeks ago one was removed from the fairways of nearby Titirangi Golf Course and another was recently found in the light industrial area of Onehunga.
Mr McLeod said it was likely the youngster had travelled up the Whau River, which runs into the upper Waitemata Harbour near Kelston, and then followed small tributaries which spread up into Avondale and New Lynn, which was quite a journey.
Because of its age and healthy condition, he released it back into the sea but this time on the Manukau Harbour.
"It was in an area where seals rest near the shore," he said, "so hopefully it's less likely to come back."
