“A seal has washed up here on shore and a man is trying to feed it fish with his bare hands,” Kosmos says at the start of the video.
The clip shows the man approaching the animal before underarm throwing the fish towards it.
The fish hits the sand, bounces up and strikes the seal in the face, startling it.
The seal lifts its head and rolls over as the man shouts: “Eat it”.
People watching from behind a temporary netted boundary can be heard telling him to leave the animal alone. It was not clear when the footage was filmed.
Kosmos later said in the comments he did not know the man and had been filming the seal from behind the boundary.
“I was literally just as shocked as everyone else watching it happen,” he wrote.
“Everyone is okay, and no human or animal was harmed.”
A social media video shows a man throwing a dead fish at a leopard seal on Petone Beach. Photo / @kosmos_nz
Commenters condemned the man’s behaviour.
“I knew this kinda s*** was gonna happen once the seal was posted online,” one person wrote.
Another said anyone “messing with” the leopard seal should be heavily fined.
“This is a leopard seal? He’s lucky he’s not getting dragged out to ocean,” another wrote.
One commenter praised people heard intervening in the video: “Props to the women who yelled ‘leave him alone!’.”
The leopard seal returned to the ocean this morning. Photo / Sam McGee
DoC marine reserves ranger Breanna Hindmarsh said throwing food near marine mammals was prohibited under the Marine Mammals Protection Regulations, as was disturbing or harassing them.
“We’ve also seen reports of dogs approaching and possibly attacking it,” she said.
“We are following up on these reports.”
DoC set up a cordon while the seal rested on the beach and asked people to remain at least 20m away.
Hindmarsh said leopard seals were “apex predators with powerful jaws and sharp teeth” and could be dangerous if provoked or threatened.
“Regardless of the intention, disturbing marine mammals like this is not okay.
“Leaving them alone and admiring from afar is the best option for everyone.”
DoC said it was also an offence under the Dog Control Act for a dog to attack a marine mammal, which could result in heavy penalties and the dog being destroyed.
Anyone who saw a seal injured, being harassed or in danger was urged to contact DoC.
An unexpected seal visitor caused a stir more than 20km inland at a Rangitīkei school this morning.
A young New Zealand fur seal was found splashing around on the hockey fields at Rangitīkei College in Marton.
Rangitīkei College principal Penny Keet said the school had never seen anything like it.
“The poor little thing was probably very disoriented and a bit lost, which obviously it would be.
“The poor thing, it had 300 kids trying to look at it,” Keet said.
“So we were trying to keep the kids away and stop it from being too stressed.”