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A curious young seal broke into a New Zealand home, harassing the family’s cat and hanging out in the hallway for several hours.
Wednesday morning, the Ross family received an unexpected visitor. Phil Ross is a marine biologist working at the University of Waikato. He and his wife, Jen, have his two children, Noah and Ali, and he lives just over 164 yards from the beach, where seals are often spotted, especially at this time of year.
The seals got in through one of the family’s cat flaps by the garage door or front door.
Shortly before 6am, Jen left home to go to the gym.
“She got in the car and something was barking and limping from underneath. She thought it was someone’s dog, but didn’t really care,” Phil explained.
When she returned an hour later, she opened the door to find the family’s newest pet – a “cute seal.”
“It got a little frightened and trod down the corridor into the spare room.”
Phil identifies the seal as a 10-month-old New Zealand fur seal. It broke into the house and terrorized the family’s cat, but Phil suspected the cat was primarily responsible.
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“I’ve never heard of a seal going through a cat’s flap, but it’s my cat Coco’s fault. Coco is quite territorial and tends to attack dogs. She swiped a seal. It didn’t go back down, followed the side of the house, went through two cat flaps, entered the garage, and went downstairs to the house,” Phil emailed to FOX 9. explained. “Coco hid in a neighbor’s house and didn’t go home until the seals were gone. And the next day, Coco didn’t go downstairs where the seals were. We didn’t see any interaction between the seals and the cats, but they did.” Obviously, it’s something Coco didn’t enjoy.”
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The young seal stayed in the house for about 90 minutes before being taken outdoors by Jenn and captured by Environmental Protection Agency rangers.
“My wife, Jen, has been very calm in these situations and handled the situation perfectly,” he continued.
Phil said the seals were safely returned to the local estuary.
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“It’s common for young seals to end up on unusual shorelines at this time of year. Young seals begin to wean and go out on their own, but like most teenagers, they can make bad decisions about where they end up.” There’s been a fairly large storm just hit so quite a few seals show up on the beach to rest and recuperate before heading out to sea again.This particular seal was apparently in good shape So I decided to explore on the sand, which formed dunes and led me to nearby streets and houses,” said Phil.