A persistent, 500-pound elephant seal with “celebrity status” on Vancouver Island is back in town.
Fishery officials say they’re shifting tactics after Emerson the elephant seal returned — yet again — to Oak Bay on Friday, just five days after a team removed him from Saanich and dropped him off more than 150 kilometres away on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
That means two-year-old Emerson traveled an average of more than 30 kilometres per day back to Greater Victoria, “an incredible feat,” according to fishery officer Morgan Van Kirk with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
"I was pretty floored. I got the email on the weekend and said to myself, ‘there’s absolutely no way it could be him already,’‘’ Van Kirk, who helped relocate Emerson last week, told CBC’s All Points West on Tuesday.
“But, yeah, this is his home and he’s letting us know that.”
To be clear this is the 5th time it’s been relocated and came back. Like they literally blindfold kidnap it to some random location on the island and it immediately came back, I don’t even understand how it’s possible
Humans have learned how to navigate the oceans via stars on a number of occasions separately all across the globe.
I’d imagine they can do it too.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Fishery officials say they’re shifting tactics after Emerson the elephant seal returned — yet again — to Oak Bay on Friday, just five days after a team removed him from Saanich and dropped him off more than 150 kilometres away on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
I got the email on the weekend and said to myself, ‘there’s absolutely no way it could be him already,’‘’ Van Kirk, who helped relocate Emerson last week, told CBC’s All Points West on Tuesday.
The slippery creature has now been relocated four times for his own safety after he tried to cross roads, climb stairs and even wandered through garden beds on past visits to busy public spaces since last May.
While Van Kirk says his team is in awe of Emerson’s navigation skills and determination, the seal’s apparent habituation to humans and “celebrity status” among locals is raising safety concerns for both him and the community.
Van Kirk says the DFO has received several “egregious” harassment reports of people trying to pet Emerson, approaching him with their animals, and even, in one instance, encouraging a child to touch the seal’s nose.
Van Kirk says the DFO and volunteers with the Marine Mammal Rescue Unit are keeping tabs on Emerson’s location and will only relocate him again, somewhere nearby, if he gets closer to humans or the situation becomes emergent.
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