Seal pup finds urban hustle a bit tiresome (+video)

A baby fur seal attracted attention after appearing on the roadside in Marewa.

The tiny pup was a long way from home, having made its way from the ocean via a crosstown drain on Georges Drive in Napier yesterday.

Police stood watch to ensure it didn't shimmy across the footpath into oncoming traffic, while keeping curious locals at a distance.

It had been there about an hour before Department of Conservation [DoC] arrived - at which time the unsuspecting seal had attracted quite a crowd.

"My wife rang me and said 'there's a seal on the bridge', nobody was around at that time so I came down to see if it was alright," local resident Ledlie Goom said.

"This is the first one I have seen here, I heard they were in [Pandora] pond yesterday, obviously he wanted to come to town."

The clearly exhausted creature played up for people every now and then - flipping over to expose its stomach and wave a flipper in the air as camera's clicked.

Watching the antics close by was Marewa woman Donell Hole, who was driving past and pulled over to see what all the fuss was about.

"It's well out of its habitat. I have never, never seen one this far inland," she said.

It wasn't the first "unusual" call DoC had received from the public recently - last month a 3- to 4 year-old seal travelled 2.2km and was crossing a southern stretch of Puketitiri Rd when it was hit by two cars.

As a precaution they netted the pup yesterday and dropped it back at the mouth of Ngaruroro River where it swam off to safety.

"It has obviously decided to go for a bit of a swim up the stream. We had to take him away. He was only going to get into trouble if he stayed there - they don't look both ways before the cross the road," DoC conservation services manager Dave Carlton said.

"In this situation, we couldn't chase him back into the stream because he would be back out causing trouble again."

Often seals came ashore to rest and despite their docile appearance should never be approached. They have extremely sharp teeth covered in bacteria which can cause nasty infections.

"They do choose the worst places to wash up, the seal [yesterday] wasn't there all that long before someone called up - these things do attract a lot of attention."