![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/a-fur-seal-pup-in-the-sprig-fern-the-meadows-RTFWDHKUS5D75OOSXUM7E4MG5Y.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA New Zealand fur seal pup caused a stir when it waddled into a pub in Richmond on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Sprig + Fern The Meadows co-owner Bella Evans said staff were setting up Christmas decorations and serving customers just after 5pm when the seal came in.<\/p>\n
“First of all, I just thought it was a dog or something, because we’re a dog-friendly pub as well, and I had to do a double take, and I was thinking, ‘oh my gosh, there’s a seal’.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A fur seal pup in the Sprig + Fern The Meadows (Source: A fur seal pup in the Sprig + Fern The Meadows)<\/p>\n
She told Breakfast that staff and patrons were “freaking out” and unsure what to do.<\/p>\n
One customer tried to usher the seal outside using his jersey, but the pup bolted into the bathroom instead and stayed there for a while.<\/p>\n
Another with a dog crate managed to get the young seal inside to keep it safe.<\/p>\n
Department of Conservation (DOC) principal biodiversity ranger Helen Otley said multiple calls on Sunday alerted them to a young New Zealand fur seal\/kekeno which had been seen on land in the Berryfields area.<\/p>\n
“The duty ranger went and looked in the area where the seal had been seen several times but was unable to locate the seal. The pub staff did a great job keeping the seal safe until the DOC ranger could get there.”<\/p>\n
A fur seal pup caused a stir after waddling through a pub in Richmond, near Nelson. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Otley said it was not unusual to see young fur seals onshore in the Tasman Bay area at this time of year “as they explore their environment after weaning”.<\/p>\n
“Seals can wander up to 15km inland, often following rivers and streams. They can turn up in unusual places \u2013 like this pub \u2013 but this is normal exploratory behaviour.”<\/p>\n
Evans said the seal would have pride of place on the pub’s “dog wall”, which features photos of visiting pets.<\/p>\n
“It will be the star of the show there.”<\/p>\n
DOC later released the seal at Rabbit Island.<\/p>\n
Today’s news in 90 seconds, including councils kicking back at the Government’s rates cap, a clue in the Hong Kong apartment blaze investigation and Kane Williamson’s return. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New Zealand fur seal pup caused a stir when it waddled into a pub in Richmond on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1313,64,63,47024,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-323739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-nelson","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323739","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=323739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}