Officials in Tasmania want people to stay away from Neil, a 1,000-kilogram elephant seal who has turned into an internet star with 1.4 million TikTok followers.
The reason is the crowds. Neil, who is five, hauled himself out onto the southern Tasmanian coast where he was born, on his twice-yearly visit after months feeding at sea. He has flattened bollards and fences on the way and picked fights with parked cars. Traffic stops when he lies down in a road.
Kris Carlyon of Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment called the seal’s fame “a bit of a double-edged sword” at a news conference in Hobart. He described fans carrying small babies close to Neil “simply trying to get that shot for Instagram.”
His warning was blunt. “There is a risk here of essentially loving Neil to death,” Carlyon said. He cited Freya, a walrus that drew large crowds in Norway in 2023 and was euthanized because of escalating risks to human safety.
Authorities have asked the public not to say where Neil is. If an admirer got hurt, rangers could be forced into a risky operation to move the animal.
Why he behaves this way
Sophia Volzke, an elephant seal scientist at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, said the damage is part of growing up. Young males practice for the dominance battles that adults fight for breeding opportunities. Neil has no other young seals to spar with, so he uses Toyotas and street furniture.
He is also the only male elephant seal hauling ashore in Tasmania at present, which is part of why he draws so much attention. Humans had largely wiped these animals out in the area, Volzke said, and their return may mean they are repopulating old ground. “We do need to find a way to coexist,” she said.
That could get harder. An adult Neil could reach 5 metres in length and weigh three times what he does now. Around 90 percent of male elephant seals do not live to breeding age, usually about 10.
At the moment he has picked a stretch of pavement, and he stays there even after rangers move him. Carlyon said on Thursday: “He’s obviously decided this puddle surrounded by bollards, which are horizontal at the moment, is his spot.”
