Oh, Gordy: 2,000kg elephant seal takes a wrong turn, ends up in South African suburb

Straits Times

a day ago

A 2,000kg elephant seal that ended up in a Cape Town suburb resting his head on the hood of a police car. PHOTO: CAPE OF GOOD HOPE SPCA
Signed, sealed and delivered.
After nine hours of drama and cuteness overload, an elephant seal the size of a small car was herded back to the sea after lumbering across a coastal town in South Africa.
The young bull was reported to have lost its way and ended up along a street in Gordon's Bay near Cape Town, startling residents there who then began owning him and calling him 'Gordy'.
'This is unreal. Hi, bro, how did you get here?' one woman asked.
The seal was first spotted early in the morning on May 27, already 1km inland.
The local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said it was likely he swam over 1,500km to end up in Gordon's Bay.
Police and a local security company tried to corral the seal by parking patrol cars around him. The 2,000kg creature rested his huge head on the hood of one car and half-climbed over another before slipping free, crossing a road and carrying on up a sidewalk.
He stopped next to a shopping mall. He was also sighted on a small lawn outside a house.
Animal welfare officials had worried he was too far from the ocean to find his way back and might become exhausted and dehydrated.
'Wild animals don't always follow the script, and this seal's unexpected journey into a residential area created real cause for concern,' Ms Belinda Abraham, an SPCA spokesman, said in a statement.
'With so many moving parts – traffic, onlookers and a massive marine mammal in distress – it took rapid coordination and clear focus to keep everyone safe,' she said.
Police and animal welfare and marine wildlife specialists worked for nine hours to get a 2,000kg elephant seal back to the sea.
PHOTO: CAPE OF GOOD HOPE SPCA
A team of marine wildlife specialists and a city veterinarian sedated the seal and guided him into an animal transport trailer.
By late afternoon, the vet gave the all-clear, and the seal was transported to Kogel Bay, where his recovery from sedation was closely monitored.
As soon as he was fully awake, Gordy hopped his way back towards the sea.
'Sea you later,' the Cape of Good Hope SPCA said in a send-off video.
The SPCA later reported that Gordy was again spotted on land, near a naval base in Simon's Town, and that he was in a 'safe and secure location with no immediate threats to his well-being'.
'It truly takes a village,' said Ms Abraham. 'We're incredibly grateful to everyone who stepped up today, for their professionalism, their compassion and their quick response to an animal in distress.'
Southern elephant seals are the world's largest seal species and are commonly found in sub-Antarctic regions, not South Africa.
But every once in a while, lone elephant seals – usually young males – find their way to South Africa's coast.
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