Elephant seal removed from Victoria golf club after moulting on fairway

A juvenile elephant seal found itself in an overnight lockup near Victoria on Sunday.

“It’s about 250 pounds – that’s our estimate and not very happy to deal with,” said Ian Fraser, senior animal control officer with Victoria Animal Control Services.

“We tossed in some fresh herring for him,” said Fraser. “This is outside the box that we normally do.”

It all started last week in View Royal, B.C.

“I think the first time [he was found] he was at home plate at Centennial Park,” said View Royal Mayor David Screech.

The elephant seal was allowing nature to run its course as it goes through its first catastrophic moult. It's a painful process that sees the seal shed its skin. Unfortunately in this case, the seal chose to do it on the baseball diamond.

“The fire department got involved that time,” said Screech.

For the safety of the seal and other animals, the View Royal Fire Department moved the seal back into the Gorge Waterway.

It was then spotted on a dock along the Gorge.

Then came another unfortunate decision. “He was flopping himself down a street,” said Fraser.

It ended up on Chancellor Avenue, just down the street from the baseball fields.

“I believe he was in someone’s driveway,” said Screech.

Once again, View Royal firefighters moved him along.

That brings us to Sunday afternoon at the Gorge Vale Golf Club.

“There’s a little creek up here where it popped out,” said Jake Scarrow, assistant golf professional at the club. "He was just flopping around on the first fairway."

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) had been tracking the elephant seal and its failed attempts to find a quiet spot to moult.

“We decided for the sake of the animal's safety and the public's safety, that we needed to move this animal to a more isolated spot,” said Paul Cottrell, marine mammal rescue coordinator with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “It’s so he can moult in peace.”

The DFO called Victoria Animal Control Services to help apprehend the grumpy seal. Animal control officers got some help from staff at the Gorge Vale Golf Club and the chase was on.

“I could hardly call it a chase because they don’t move very quickly,” said Ben Watson, an animal control officer.

“It went from this corner of our property to the farthest other side,” said Scarrow. “That was over probably a three-hour span.”

It was a slow-speed chase, about one kilometre in total and it lasted into the night. Finally, the group did manage to persuade the elephant seal into the kennel.

That brings us back to why the elephant seal was briefly behind bars on Monday morning. DFO officials arrived Monday afternoon and picked up the animal to take it away.

“We’re going to put him on an isolated spot on a beach that’s suitable for moulting and away from people,” said Cottrell.

That is where the moulting elephant seal is now: on an undisclosed beach in the capital region, where nature can run its course in peace.