The Ross family of Mt Maunganui in New Zealand received a surprise visitor on Wednesday morning, as a seal was able to break into their home and sit around doing nothing for a few hours before a ranger returned it to the sea.
While the Army train dogs to sniff out illegal substances and even attack on command, the New Zealand navy must have an equally incredible training program because this seal managed to stealthily infiltrate the home by fitting through two catflaps to get inside.
It managed to accomplish this feat without waking the children who were sleeping upstairs.
Phil Ross said that his wife had heard a barking sound under car in the morning as she was about to head off to the gym at 6am.
“As she got in the car, something barked from underneath and shuffled away. She thought it was someone’s dog … and didn’t really think too much of it.”
Returning home an hour later, Jenn Ross had found the seal in the doorway which was startled by her appearance.
“It got a bit of a fright and humped it’s way down the hallway into the spare room.”
The seal wanted to play table tennis
The seal may have been frightened but it could also have been eager to play a game of table tennis. After all, there’s not many opportunities to play the sport in the sea.
Jenn went upstairs to wake up their two children so they could see their surprise guest.
“They thought it was cool and pretty exciting but were totally oblivious to the fact that not many of their mates would have seals come to visit them in their houses.”
Or perhaps they have visited but their friends were unaware? Who’s to say there aren’t other seals specialised in covert infiltration?
The family named the seal “Oscar” as part of the community long tradition of naming seals in the area.
On the other hand, some people may prefer Geese as house pets as a woman who was initially frightened of birds ended up becoming a stay at home goose mum to ‘Pancake’.
The chase scene
Phil Ross believes that Oscar had encountered the family’s cat outside which must have been terrified and ran back into the house via the cat flap with the seal in hot pursuit.
“The cat would have gone to defend its territory and obviously the seal wasn’t as intimidated as some dogs are, so Coco must have bolted around the side of the house, into the cat flap, and the seal must have followed her.”
After fleeing into the spare room, Oscar decided to lounge on the couch until Jenn was able to guide him out of the front door and into the garden.
While the family had Oscar distracted, Coco the cat fled to the neighbours garden and when she returned home, she refused to go downstairs as she was still clearly shaken up from her encounter with the seal.
No territories were marked
The husband, Phil was relieved to say that Oscar had not marked its territory inside the house.
If it did, this new territory would be called New Sealand.
“I think that would have been pretty terminal for the furniture.”
Young Oscar was eventually picked up by a Department of Conservation ranger at 10am who returned him safely to sea.
Even though Oscar caused no harm to the home or family, seals can cause serious injuries if they feel threatened and can also carry infectious diseases.
Being a marine biologist, Phil Ross stated that he was unfortunately the only one not home at the time.
“The big joke is that this is really the only family emergency where it would be useful to have a marine biologist in the house. I really missed my time to shine.”