A fence in southern Tasmania lost a fight to an elephant seal. So did several traffic bollards and a sign warning the public about seals.
The seal is Neil, a five-year-old male of about 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds), back on the stretch of coast where he was born. He came ashore in June after months feeding at sea. It was his 12th visit. He has since picked fights with parked cars, gone through barriers meant to keep him off the roads, and lain down in the middle of those roads, which stops traffic in the towns he visits.
His TikTok following stands at 1.4 million, more than double the human population of Tasmania. Some viewers online have cast him as an anti-authoritarian hero. Neil is also the only male elephant seal to visit Tasmania in years.
The scientists are unmoved. Sophia Volzke, an elephant seal scientist at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, said young males need to practice for the dominance battles adults fight, rearing up and crashing chests together over breeding opportunities. Neil has no other young seals to practice on. He makes do with Toyotas.
Officials ask for distance
Kris Carlyon of the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment told a news conference in Hobart on Thursday that “Neil’s fame is a bit of a double-edged sword.” He described people carrying small babies up close to the seal “simply trying to get that shot for Instagram.”
Officials have asked the public not to name the town he is in. A bad encounter between the seal and an admirer could force rangers to move him, a risky job. Carlyon recalled Freya, a walrus that drew big crowds in Norway in 2023 and was euthanized after officials cited a growing risk to people. “There is a risk here of essentially loving Neil to death,” he said.
At present Neil has taken a stretch of sidewalk and keeps returning to it after rangers move him on. He sometimes snuggles up to an orange traffic cone. “He’s obviously decided this puddle surrounded by bollards, which are horizontal at the moment, is his spot,” Carlyon said.
Volzke said about 90 percent of male elephant seals die before breeding age, around 10. If Neil gets there, he could reach 5 metres (16 feet) and three times his present weight.
Dale Creamer, who lives in the town and has not been inconvenienced himself, put it this way: “It’s Neil’s world and we’re just living in it.”
