Seal pup causes commotion in suburbia

A Mt Roskill household opened their curtains to find a surprising garden ornament among their roses - an adventurous fur seal pup that was taking a Labour Day jaunt around suburbia.

Residents of a home in Haycock Ave home were oblivious to the seal in their garden until it caused a commotion by jumping over the net conservation rangers were using to try and snare it.

The pup, which is believed to have swum 2.5km up a small stream from the Manukau Harbour before running out of water to follow, hid under a parked car for 10 minutes until determined rangers prodded it out and into a carry-cage.

Department of Conservation (DoC) programme manager of biodiversity Phil Brown released it at Green Bay on the Manukau Harbour, where it showed its thanks with a few spiral rolls before heading into deeper water.

He said DoC was alerted after the SPCA received a phone call from a bewildered resident. "Someone called and said 'Oh my goodness, there's a seal crossing the road'."

Mr Brown said sightings of New Zealand fur seals were becoming more frequent as the population recovered from decimation by hunters around the turn of last century.

A crowd of curious neighbours and passing motorists gathered around the seal, but the owners of the rose garden only realised it was there midway through the rescue operation.

Mr Brown said passers-by who happened upon a lost seal should not approach it . "If you try and scoop it up it will give you a damn good bite and they don't have the cleanest of mouths," he said.

"You particularly shouldn't cut it off from its escape path."