Kris Carlyon asked Neil the seal’s followers to keep their distance on Thursday after the 2,200-pound elephant seal drew crowds during a June return to southern Tasmania. The warning came as the 5-year-old animal’s visits continued to attract attention and property damage.
Carlyon, speaking for Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment at a news conference in Hobart, said, "Neil’s fame is a bit of a double-edged sword" and warned, "There is a risk here of essentially loving Neil to death." He also said, "We have had some pretty silly behavior, instances with people carrying their small babies up close to him and simply trying to get that shot for Instagram."
Neil has 1.4 million followers on TikTok and has made his 12th visit to shore during this trip. Officials in Tasmania said the public should not identify the town he is currently visiting, a step meant to limit crowds around a seal that usually returns to the coast where it was born to rest, fast and shed fur. Kris Carlyon warns about the public risk.
Tasmania’s seal visits
The seal has bent traffic bollards, damaged a sign warning the public about seals and destroyed a fence. He has also picked fights with parked cars and smashed through barriers erected to keep him off roads, leaving officials to manage both the animal’s movements and the public response around them.
Sophia Volzke, an elephant seal scientist based at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, said juvenile male elephant seals need to practice for dominance battles. She said Neil is the only male elephant seal to visit Tasmania in years, which makes his repeated returns stand out among the species’ usual biannual pattern.
Freya in Norway
Officials in Tasmania pointed to Freya, a walrus euthanized in Norway in 2023 after authorities cited a growing risk to human safety, as a warning example. The comparison sharpened the issue for Neil: his popularity is now part of the problem, because the closer people get for photos, the more likely a dangerous encounter becomes.
If crowds keep pushing in, officials may need to consider a risky relocation operation, but how they would actually move Neil elsewhere is not explained. For now, the practical instruction is simple: leave the seal alone, keep children back and do not treat a wild animal like a photo stop.
