WELLINGTON, July 3 — Neil the elephant seal has returned to the Australian coast where he was born. He weighs 1,000 kilograms. He has 1.4 million followers on TikTok.
And he is, by all accounts, a bit of a menace. The 5-year-old male hauled himself ashore in June for his 12th visit to beachside towns in southern Tasmania state.
He has been feeding at sea for months. What unfolded next is the kind of homecoming that leaves local officials wincing and social media cheering. Neil’s rampage through local infrastructure has claimed bent traffic bollards, a sign warning the public about seals, and a fence that did not survive his attempt to vault it.
He picks fights with parked cars. He smashes through barriers erected to keep him off roads.
The rest of the time, he lies placidly wherever he likes — sometimes in the middle of the road, bringing towns to a standstill. He is the only male elephant seal to visit Tasmania in years. His TikTok following is more than double Tasmania’s human population.
At the heart of the story, though, is a serious concern. Officials say Neil’s popularity could lead to ill-advised human-seal encounters that are dangerous for both sides. A 1,000-kilogram animal with a bellowing roar and a taste for testing barriers is not a pet.
He is a wild animal. Some online have hailed Neil as a kind of anti-authoritarian hero.
The experts see it differently. Sophia Volzke, an elephant seal scientist based in the region, said Neil’s antics are normal experimentation for a growing seal. Juvenile male elephant seals need to practice for dominance battles in which adults rear up and crash their chests together as they compete for breeding opportunities.
Neil is not being a jerk, in other words. He is being a seal.
The problem is that fame brings people closer. And closer, in this case, is not safe. For those involved — the fans who want a selfie, the drivers stuck behind a 2,200-pound animal blocking the road, the officials trying to keep everyone alive — the stakes are real.
What to watch next is whether Neil’s fan base can keep its distance. The seal will finish his shore leave and return to the sea. The question is whether anyone gets hurt before he does.
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