July 27, 2016
SYDNEY (AFP) - A woman using the toilets at a local cemetery in Australia had the fright of her life after finding a large fur seal napping in the cubicle.
The discovery of the 120-kilogramme (264-pound) animal was even more surprising as he was half a kilometre (mile) from the nearest water.
"We thought it was a practical joke when we were told," Karina Moore from Devonport Council in northwest Tasmania state told AFP Wednesday.
"It's a big mystery. It's very unusual to find a seal so far inland.
"There's a small creek about half a kilometre away but he would still have had to cross a busy road and several paddocks to make it to the cemetery."
The council called in Parks and Wildlife officials who sedated the seal, which they named Sammy, before moving him to a local beach and releasing him.
Wildlife biologist Rachel Alderman told ABC radio Australian fur seals were common around Tasmania.
"They're a really abundant species all around Tasmania, particularly in Bass Strait, and we've had them turn up in paddocks, people's backyards, and now we can add a toilet block in a cemetery to the list," she said.
