A young seal was caught trespassing and stealing the cat’s food in a New Zealand home before resigning itself to the spare room couch.
The Ross family home is located in the seaside town of Mount Maunganui, about 150m from the shore. The area is known for its fur seal population, which is starting to make a comeback in the area.
Phil Ross, who happens to be a marine biologist, said that it was not unusual to see young seals roaming about at this time of the year when they are beginning to wean and head out on their own. ‘I guess, like all teenagers, they don’t necessarily make sensible decisions,’ Phil told The Guardian.
‘The big joke is that this is really the only family emergency where it would be useful to have a marine biologist in the house,’ Phil said about not being at home at the time. ‘I really missed my time to shine.’
The seal managed to make its way through two catflaps, and Phil believes it encountered the family’s cat, Coco, who fled to the neighbour’s house.
The seal spent some time in the spare room before it was ushered out of the front door and into the garden. A conservation ranger later turned up to take the seal back out to sea.
When Coco the Cat returned home, it refused to go downstairs with Phil commenting that it was ‘clearly pretty traumatised’.
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