Leopard seal dodges frisbee on north Auckland beach

Thursday, 28 December 2017

Novy the leopard seal was spotted snoozing on a Whangaparaoa beach on Wednesday.

A leopard seal named Novy was spied at a beach in north Auckland on Wednesday, and needed protecting from marauding children with a frisbee.

Novy was 'hauled up' on a shore near Stanmore Bay, Whangaparaoa, when beachgoers alerted the Department of Conservation, said leopard seal research assistant Giverny Forbes.

'They haul up when they need to rest, and can stay sleeping on a beach for a few days,' she said.

Novy the leopard seal on a Whangaparaoa beach, north of Auckland.

Forbes was part of a group from leopardseals.org, sent by DOC to protect Novy from curious members of the public and members of the public from her, as leopard seals are some of the more aggressive of their species.

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'They're apex predators, which basically means they're very good at what they do and can be particularly dangerous,' Forbes said.

Novy, however, slept peacefully on the beach until around 3pm — six hours after she was reported to DOC — and then headed back out to sea.

Forbes was able to identify Novy, who was last seen at Westhaven Marina three weeks ago, by her spot patterns and 2.2m length.

She said some boys at the beach had wanted to throw a frisbee at the seal, which she was able to prevent.

'That sort of behaviour is just not ok,' said Forbes, who added that people should not attempt to take selfies with or generally approach the seals at all.

'While we're there we do try to educate people about leopard seals, as they're quite a curiosity,' she said.

Harassing seals is illegal and DOC advises people to stay at least 20m away from the animals.

Leopard seals, named for their leopard-like markings, usually live in Antarctic waters, but new research shows they visit New Zealand waters more often than previously thought.

They are the second largest species of seal after the elephant seal, and are second only to killer whales as Antarctic apex predators.

The usually solitary creatures can live up to 15 years, and can weigh up to 600 kilograms.

The public are urged to report sightings of the seals to DOC at 0800 DOC HOT and/or leopardseals.org at 0800 LEOPARD.