Cape Town’s most recent and arguably cutest visitor, the elephant seal that spent a day roaming Gordon’s Bay before being returned to the ocean, has found himself lounging in a new Cape Town spot, Cape {town} Etc reports.
Picture: Screenshot from video
According to the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, the seal – aptly nicknamed ‘Gordy’ – re-emerged from the waters near the Naval Base in Simon’s Town on Thursday morning. This time, however, there’s no need for another nine-hour rescue mission, as he’s been deemed ‘safe and secure’.
‘He’s currently safe and secure in a location where he cannot access any roads, and there’s no immediate risk to his well-being,’ the SPCA said at the time.
‘An SPCA Inspector and the City of Cape Town are on scene, keeping a close eye on him. For now, he’s simply resting, which is completely normal behaviour.’
Lounging or ‘hauling out’, as marine folk call it, is perfectly normal for elephant seals, especially when they’re moulting or recovering from long swims.
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Considering the fact that Gordy, probably around five years old according to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), made it all the way across False Bay in such a short time, we think he certainly deserves to ‘haul out’ for a few more days.
The animal welfare organisation added that it, along with its partners, would continue to monitor him closely, ready to step in if he shows any sign of distress or needs help.
While elephant seals regularly come ashore along the country’s coastlines to moult, it’s always a memorable occasion to spot one in unexpected settings. So much so that when hearing about another sighting, you can’t help but wonder if it could be the same gentle giant you encountered before.
This, according to The South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR), seemed to be the case for many marine lovers from KwaZulu-Natal.
‘Many of you would have seen the video of the elephant seal causing quite a stir in Gordon’s Bay that was widely shared on social and mainstream media yesterday,’ SAAMBR said in a Facebook post.
‘We received a number of calls enquiring whether the seal was in fact Rocky, who we returned to the ocean in March this year after he spent five months in our care.’
Rocky, a southern elephant seal that had been stranded in Rocky Bay in KZN in October last year, spent five months under the care of uShaka Sea World for tests and recovery before being reintroduced into the ocean close to Gqeberha in March this year, reported IOL.
So, when Gordy was making international headlines and soaking up social media’s spotlights, some KZN’ers couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Rocky had taken a detour and found himself in a Gordon’s Bay residential area. SAAMBR, however, confirmed that this was not the case.
‘The Gordon’s Bay seal is fortunately not Rocky, who is currently approximately 1 200km south of Cape Town,’ said SAAMBR.
‘Rocky has travelled close to 4 000km since being dropped off 50km south of Gqeberha and seems to be really rocking it down south.’
Rocky was fitted with a satellite tag to track his movements over the following year or so.
Article shared by Cape Town ETC
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