{"id":810617,"date":"2026-07-19T17:56:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T17:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/810617\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T17:56:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T17:56:26","slug":"neil-the-seal-tasmania-where-did-neil-the-seal-go-and-can-a-future-lover-take-him-away-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/810617\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil the Seal Tasmania: Where did Neil the Seal go, and can a future lover take him away forever?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past six weeks, Tasmania <\/a>has been treated to a special kind of magic, Entertained, terrorised and delighted by a cheeky Seal<\/a> named Neil.<\/p>\n

But this is not his first performance. For the past five years, Neil the Seal has made twice-yearly visits. <\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Neil the Seal resting next to his favourite fence at a Tasmanian beachtown.
\n\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

This is because he\u2019s genetically programmed to return from the sea to his birthplace.<\/p>\n

But as the only elephant seal to be born in Tasmania in more than 200 years, his pilgrimage home is a lonely one.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no herd of fellow seals waiting for him, just a community of humans doing their best to protect this 1000-kilogram troublesome teenager.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s definitely something about Neil. <\/p>\n

He\u2019d arrived unannounced, won hearts around the world with his adorable antics and oversized personality and then in the middle of the night simply disappeared. <\/p>\n

To the great relief of his fans though he is expected back later this year to entertain all over again.<\/p>\n

But before he took off, 60 Minutes managed a final audience with the delightful and troublesome seal named Neil.<\/p>\n

When we met it was just after 2pm, and a dozy Neil the Seal was making an art form out of sleeping.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Newborn Neil almost drowned before the Tasmanian Department of Natural Resources and Environment rescued him. Now he\u2019s an internet star.\u00a060 Minutes<\/p>\n

He\u2019d made his bed, hard up against a fence, and he was happy to lie in it.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, he\u2019d barely move a whisker for the next three days. <\/p>\n

But every twitch enthralled the ever-growing crowd that had flocked to see him.<\/p>\n

Even asleep he was a star, with visitors gathering.<\/p>\n

Tash Young is a Tassie local who is driven to keep Neil safe.<\/p>\n

Neil, on the other hand, has other plans.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s rebellious and, at 1000 kilograms, incredibly destructive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a menace. He really is. He loves the attention on the weekends,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all the crowds come. He gets up and starts fighting poles and street signs. So he knows, he knows that he\u2019s there for a show.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a seal<\/a> show that \u2013 thanks to social media<\/a> \u2013 has gone around the world.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Neil\u2019s mother gave birth on a shallow intertidal patch of sand at a southern Tasmania beach.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Incredibly, two Sundays ago close to 3000 people rocked up to a small village to see the one-tonne sleeping giant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re potentially loving him to death. They really need to give him some space,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

Songs have even been written in his honour.<\/p>\n

Locals like Kevin Dorsett have no choice but to watch and welcome the flood of fans storming the beaches to find Neil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had people that have actually come from China<\/a>, right, off a plane,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

he Tasmanian community has rallied to protect Neil the Seal from harm, including excessive human interaction.
\n\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

From his earliest hours, Neil has had a special place in the heart of Tasmania.<\/p>\n

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment got a mayday call in late 2020 to save the newborn, who could not yet swim, from drowning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an extraordinary case in that most southern elephant seals, um, are born on the Sub-Antarctic Islands, but this is quite a rare circumstance where he was born in Tasmania,\u201d department secretary Jason Jacobi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Tasmania is imprinted in his DNA and we love that about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

From his cute and cuddly period over his many visits to Tasmania, Neil now weighs a whopping tonne.<\/p>\n

But over the next few years he\u2019s expected to quadruple in size and grow to five metres in length, raising real concern about how to cope with this huge visitor.<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve come to know him, it\u2019s inconceivable to even think that Neil the Seal might have to be put down. <\/p>\n

The job of making such an agonising decision is Jacobi\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have enough measures and plans in place that I\u2019m very confident Neil is safe, the community is safe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no need for us to consider any other objective other than what we have always sought to achieve, which is, \u2018how do we keep Neil wild?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the full story on 60 MINUTES<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the past six weeks, Tasmania has been treated to a special kind of magic, Entertained, terrorised and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-810617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810617","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=810617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}