{"id":596864,"date":"2026-04-11T11:01:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T11:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/596864\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T11:01:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T11:01:21","slug":"suns-out-cones-out-sleepy-seal-diverts-traffic-in-australian-seaside-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/596864\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun&#8217;s out, cones out: Sleepy seal diverts traffic in Australian seaside town"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image_img__HwwMG\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775905281_626_.jpeg\" alt=\"Traffic in a seaside Australian town was briefly diverted on Friday when a local seal decided to take a nap on the road\" width=\"1224\" height=\"806\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Traffic in a seaside Australian town was briefly diverted on Friday when a local seal decided to take a nap on the road.<\/p>\n<p>The dozy pinniped was spotted snoozing on a road in Dromana in the southern state of Victoria.<\/p>\n<p>Local police placed cones around the seal &#8212; known to some locals as Sammy &#8212; who could be seen sunning himself with little concern for the traffic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t know where he will pop up next,\u201d local Laura Ellen, who spotted the slumbering animal, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe usually sleeps all day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt made me laugh when I saw him on the road. Haven\u2019t seen him do that before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The seal was later redirected back to the beach by wildlife rescuers and the lane was re-opened.<\/p>\n<p>Seals are a common sight along Victoria\u2019s coast and it is illegal to touch or feed them, the state government says.<\/p>\n<p>oho\/djw\/ane<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Traffic in a seaside Australian town was briefly diverted on Friday when a local seal decided to take&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-596864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}