You never know what kind of animal you might find right outside your doorstep. Recently, one family got quite a surprise after a very unexpected animal wandered far from home and decided to take a nap on their porch.
According to a Facebook post from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, a family in Wellington discovered a seal pup outside their home last week, curling up for a cozy nap on their porch:
It had “climbed up the seawall stairs, crossed a road, hiked up a footpath, a driveway, and finally another set of stairs before reaching its nap spot,” according to the Department of Conservation.
“It’s not every day you come home to find a seal curled up on your front porch.”
The creature is a kekeno, or New Zealand fur seal. They are not actual seals, despite their name, and are more closely related to sea lions.
It’s not unusual for juvenile seals to appear like this at this time of year: In New Zealand, “seal silly season” lasts from May to September, when young pups and older males leave their colonies.These seals like to explore the wider world during this period, and locals often find seals in the roadways, public spaces and even their homes.
But the Department of Conservation stresses that this is normal and that the seals should to go about their business without much intervention: “They might look skinny or sick, with weepy eyes and a cough, but this is normal – seals are very resilient animals,” they wrote on Facebook. “Seals need rest, not rescuing.”
However they also said that if a seal is on your property, injured or in danger, it’s best to call the department. In the case of this sleepy porch seal, an officer arrived and relocated it to a safer location away from dogs and traffic.
