Seal twice rescued from busy road‎

A young fur seal, that was ushered into the water after taking over Melbourne's busiest beachside strip, has been taken to Melbourne Zoo after a second dramatic road crossing. In the first hour-long rescue, police and Wildlife Victoria were able to coax the agitated Australian fur seal back into Port Phillip Bay, after it dangerously camped on Beaconsfield Pde, Middle Park at about 7am yesterday.

Police were forced to sporadically stop traffic on the busy six-lane road and hold back pedestrians and cyclists as it waddled itself from the beach side of the road - stopping to sunbathe on the asphalt and middle median strip before lying in the gutter in front of houses. It lunged and snapped at police when they tried to approach it, with one policewoman needing her arm bandaged after falling as she tried to keep clear of the aggressive pup.

South Melbourne acting Sgt Nitsa Tsilfidis and Wildlife Victoria volunteer rescuer Amy Amato held a sheepskin blanket as a shield and successfully guided the seal back to the beach. The seal was initially reluctant to jump the stone wall separating the footpath from the beach, but 10 minutes later it launched itself onto the sand before waddling into the water. But about two hours later, the seal again jumped the stone wall and made a second attempt to cross the road.

Police and wildlife rescuers were joined by Melbourne Zoo's marine mammal team about 11.30am, using nets to catch the pup for it to be taken to the zoo for a health check. Senior keeper Adrian Howard said the pup was at the age where it would start to play and practice swimming away from its family. "It's about a year old and they start to get independent at this age, so we deal with this a bit at this time of year,'' he said. "It might have been its first time away from its mum, struggled in these rough seas and wanted a break.'' Mr Howard said if the animal was healthy it would be returned to the bay in the next couple of days.

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