Family discovers an unexpected animal napping on their porch: a seal pup

You never know what kind of animal you might find right outside your doorstep. Recently, one family got quite a surprise after a very unexpected animal wandered far from home and decided to take a nap on their porch.

According to a Facebook post from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, a family in Wellington discovered a seal pup outside their home last week, curling up for a cozy nap on their porch:

“It had been on a bit of a mission, climbing up the seawall stairs, crossing a road, hiking up a footpath, a driveway, and finally another set of stairs, before reaching its nap spot,” the Department of Conservation wrote.

“It’s not every day you come home to find a seal curled up on your front porch.”

The creature is a New Zealand fur seal, or kekeno. Despite the name, they are not true seals, and are more closely related to the sea lion.

It’s not uncommon for young seals to pop up like this during this time of year: May through September is known as “seal silly season” in New Zealand, when young pups and adult males leave their colonies.

These seals like to explore the wider world during this period, and locals often find seals in the roadways, public spaces and even their homes.

But the Department of Conservation stresses that this is normal and that the seals should to go about their business without much intervention: “They might look skinny or sick, with weepy eyes and a cough, but this is normal – seals are very resilient animals,” they wrote on Facebook. “Seals need rest, not rescuing.”

However they also said that if a seal is on your property, injured or in danger, it’s best to call the department. In the case of this sleepy porch seal, an officer arrived and relocated it to a safer location away from dogs and traffic.

Related Posts

The Hidden Meaning of “SSSS” on Your Boarding Pass

Air travel can be stressful even before reaching the airport, with travelers juggling transportation, baggage rules, terminal navigation, and boarding times. Long security lines, gate changes, or…

I believed we were dirt-poor—until that morning my mother-in-law hurled my bag into the yard. “Get out. Stop clinging to this family!”

“Get out. Stop clinging to this family!” she barked, her words slicing through the cold air.I stood on the porch, my coat stretched tight over my pregnant…

If You Have One Of These Old VHS Tapes It May Be Worth Over $1000 SEE BELOW..

Got VHS tapes collecting dust on a shelf somewhere? Maybe you already reclaimed the space and they’re sitting in an attic long-forgotten. Hopefully you didn’t throw them…

My Husband Mocked My Body at His Promotion Gala. Hours Later, the Bank Froze His Cards—and He Didn’t Know Why.

I stood there with spit-up on my dress while my husband called me a liability—and in that moment, something inside me broke for good. I had built his…

A Stranger Saved Us at 2 AM—Years Later, We Realized Who He Became

It was two in the morning on an empty highway when our car suddenly died, leaving my wife Amrita and me stranded under nothing but moonlight and…

My Dad Put Me in Foster Care at 6—The Truth I Discovered 18 Years Later Changed Everything..

When I was six years old, my father placed me in foster care, and I spent the next 18 years believing he had abandoned me. Then one…