Trucker bij Port Germein, in zuiden Australië, ziet jong zeehondje over snelweg kruipen - Diertje bijna 200 mijl verwijderd van een zeehondkolonie

Seal pup found trying to cross highway, 200 miles

from nearest colony

10-12-2009 Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney, The Times, UK


Truck drivers ferrying loads across Australia are used to seeing a kangaroo or two jump across the highway, or even a wombat moseying along the busy roads. But a truckie driving on a highway in South Australia on Wednesday night received a shock when the small animal he saw trying to cross the busy road was in fact a 13-pound seal pup.

A New Zealand fur seal

Severely dehydrated, the pup was found a few miles from the nearest beach, and nearly 200 miles from the nearest seal colony, by a truck driver on the Princes Highway, one of Australia’s busiest motorways.

The pup, believed to be a sub-Antarctic or a New Zealand fur seal, was found 7km (4 miles) south of Port Germein, north-west of Adelaide on the coast of South Australia. The nearest seal colony is at Coffin Bay, which is across the Spencer Gulf.

Aaron Machado from Adelaide’s Project Dolphin Safe said seals were often left alone on the beach while their mother looks for food and people sometimes mistakenly think they have been abandoned.

He said this seal, believed to be between three and six months old, may have been plucked from the beach by well-meaning passers-by who then dumped her on the side of the road when the pup began to display normal seal tendencies (ie.going to the toilet and biting people).

Either that, or the adventurous seal actually made the 200-mile journey on her own.

“Both options sound pretty far-fetched but they are possible,” Mr Machado told The Times.
“It’s not unheard of for animals to come in off the beach. There’s a sea lion called Henry who often comes in and sleeps in the middle of Military Road in Adelaide every year. I always get calls to come and fetch him, he’s a real pain in the backside.
“This girl could have done it on her own but she would have had to cross a train line as well to get to the road she was on. I couldn’t say why she was heading in the wrong direction.”

The baby seal was picked up by the truck driver who drove her to the nearest town before calling for help. She was then passed onto the Adelaide Zoo where she was fed fluids and liquefied pilchards, and is now being cared for by Mr Machado’s organisation, which helps monitor and rescue dolphins and other aquatic animals around South Australia.

He said the pup is severely dehydrated and underweight but after intensive rehabilitation it is likely she will recover well enough to be released back into the wild in the next few months.

“She’s very skinny and really grumpy girl – she has a very strong attitude,” he said. “But I’m hopeful she will be ok in the end.”

Sub-Antarctic fur seals are found on Heard Island, half way between Australia and South Africa, but have occasionally been found in Australia. The New Zealand fur seals are commonly found off the southern coast of Australia.

(Bron: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/)
(Bron foto: The Times / Bron Google Earth: archief Kraaijer)