Earlier this week he dined on a small shark in the area.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sammy treats himself to some fresh flake. (Supplied: Shirley Stanford)<\/p>\n
The Victorian Conservation Regulator’s Rachael Harrison said most people behaved appropriately, but there had been incidents of Sammy being treated poorly.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had people that have slapped him, that have thrown rocks at him, and are just getting way too close to him,” she said, adding that the animals can be dangerous.<\/p>\n
“There’s been cases overseas where they’ve crushed vehicles.<\/p>\n
“They’re definitely not friendly when you get too close \u2014 they’re quite protective.<\/p>\n
“He’s really cool to look at and we want to keep him happy and also keep people safe.”<\/p>\n
Authorities are urging people to keep their distance from Sammy while he is in town. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n
Ms Harrison said wildlife officers were patrolling the area to ensure the wellbeing of Sammy and the public.<\/p>\n
“We just encourage people to stay 30 metres away, or 50 with the dog,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We also advertise locally on Facebook groups, newspaper articles \u2013 all of the above \u2013 just to try and get word out and educate people of how they can protect themselves and the seal as well.”<\/p>\n
Loading…Shark feed shows Sammy’s speed<\/p>\n
This week Coast Guard commander and Portland resident Shirley Stanford photographed Sammy eating a small shark.<\/p>\n
“I was sitting on the boat and I knew that Sammy was around because occasionally he would surface just a little bit in the canal, then he’d surface somewhere else,” she said.<\/p>\n
“He came up at the back of the pilot boat and then I got my camera ready because he was splashing around.<\/p>\n
“Then he suddenly lunged out of the water with this shark in his mouth \u2014 it was just amazing.<\/p>\n
“I’ve seen him move quickly before \u2013 I know how fast he can be in the water \u2013 but I was a bit surprised to see him lunge up out of the water like that.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sammy is often seen near the Portland Coast Guard’s vessel. (Supplied: Shirley Stanford)<\/p>\n
Sammy, who Ms Stanford estimates weighs about 4 tonnes, often hangs around where the Coast Guard boat is kept.<\/p>\n
“He has precedent \u2014 if he’s in my park I wait for him to move on,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Sammy rules the roost around the place.”<\/p>\n
Sammy draws a crowd when he hauls himself out of the canal bordering the Portland Botanic Gardens. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n
A special sight for Portland<\/p>\n
Ms Harrison said Sammy had been visiting Portland back for nearly three years.<\/p>\n
“He floats between [the canal] and a couple of other local beaches, but the canal is definitely a favourite for him,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It’s not usual habitat for them \u2014 they usually sit around that Macquarie Island area.<\/p>\n
“So for it to be here and doing stuff like eating sharks in front of people is pretty cool.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Southern elephant seals are normally found in areas such as Macquarie Island. (Supplied: Andrea Turbett\/Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service)<\/p>\n
Ms Harrison said there had been a couple of other elephant seal sightings in the state, including one at Blanket Bay as well as others spotted in Portland.<\/p>\n
“They just don’t stay for a super long time,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We know the males go away from the remainder of the group to get some rest and then go back to breed.<\/p>\n
“This one just hasn’t gone and we’re thinking it’s because there’s such a large amount of food there for him and he’s just happy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A popular seal has returned to a south-west Victorian town, thrilling onlookers but prompting warnings from authorities. Sammy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,82094,82098,82097,82095,128,82100,82096,82099,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-115748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-elephant-seal","11":"tag-elephant-seal-habitat","12":"tag-elephant-seal-portland","13":"tag-rachael-harrison","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-seals-in-victoria","16":"tag-shirley-stanford","17":"tag-southern-elephant-seal","18":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}