Neil the 1,000kg seal terrorises Tasmania
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Neil, a five-year-old elephant seal born in Tasmania in 2020, has returned to southern Tasmanian towns, crushing fences, bypassing barricades and bashing into at least one parked car at roughly 1,000 kilograms.
- Tasman council mayor Rod Macdonald said residents work around the animal, calling him "a bit of a celebrity" who "continues to earn his status," while independent senator Jacqui Lambie dubbed him "the only bloke in Tasmania who can stop traffic."
- Dr Jane Younger, a seal expert at the University of Tasmania, said Neil is engaging in "normal seal behaviours" and is set to grow much larger — adult males routinely exceed two tonnes, with the largest around 3.5 tonnes.
- Dr Clive McMahon of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science said Neil is on a roughly six-week "haul out" normally used to spar with other young males; in their absence he spars with bollards, traffic cones and cars, and sleeps squished against fences — likely out of loneliness.
- Wildlife officials urged the public to stay at least 20 metres from Neil at all times (50 metres for those with dogs), even when he's sleeping.
- The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently upgraded the southern elephant seal to "vulnerable" after a wave of bird flu killed more than 90% of pups in some colonies, including 13,000 on Heard Island.
Why it matters: The feel-good local story carries a sobering coda: the IUCN just reclassified Neil's species as "vulnerable" after bird flu killed over 90% of pups in some colonies — meaning a beloved Tasmanian mascot is also a stand-in for a species under acute, named threat.
Ask SkimNews
