Wildlife officials warned Tasmanians to give Neil the Seal space after people approached the 1,000kg animal too closely for photos. Kris Carlyon said the concern is not just for the seal; risky behaviour around Neil could turn a public attraction into a safety problem.
Carlyon, the section head for wildlife health at Tasmania’s department of natural resources, said on Thursday morning that people were essentially “loving Neil to death”. He warned that people have even carried small babies up close to him for a picture, and he said the seal’s fame is now encouraging exactly the sort of contact officials want to stop.
Kris Carlyon on Thursday morning
“Neil’s fame is a bit of a double-edged sword,” Carlyon said. “Right now the attention Neil gets helps with awareness of our threatened species, helps with his protection in some ways. But it also encourages perhaps risky human behaviour, people trying to get selfies with Neil, people trying get that little bit closer for that good photo.”
He added that officials have seen people trying to leave meals for Neil, even though he does not need food and will not feed if they try. Neil was born in Tasmania in October 2020, has returned to southern Tasmania 12 times so far, and is on land for about six weeks after a busy feeding period in the Southern Ocean.
Jane Younger on Neil
Jane Younger of the University of Tasmania said Neil is already at a size where he is dangerous. “He’s already at a size now where he’s dangerous,” she said. “Even if he’s not in an aggressive mood, he could easily kill a person.”
That risk is backed by the scale Neil can reach: about 3,500kg and about 4.5 metres long. Younger also said, “They have a big mouth, big teeth, you could get very seriously injured.”
Neil the Seal and Tasmania
Neil is a southern elephant seal, and his presence in Tasmania is unusual because most of his kind live on the subantarctic Macquarie and Heard islands. Clive McMahon said, “Neil was born in Tasmania, near Hobart, and he thinks that’s where home is because he doesn’t know where Macquarie Island is.” “And he doesn’t have a map.”
That mix of public attention and real risk is why officials are drawing a hard line now. They said relocating Neil is an option of last resort, and Carlyon warned that large, potentially dangerous animals have been euthanised elsewhere when risky public behaviour created an unmanageable safety concern. The lesson is simple: keep your distance, do not feed him, and do not treat a 1,000kg seal like a photo prop.
