An elephant seal stunned early risers after it was spotted waddling through a quiet residential street.
Footage showed the marine mammal flopping across driveways and slapping its flippers at parked cars.
The huge creature had managed to travel about one kilometre inland from the water.
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Onlookers gathered around to film the unusual visitor.
But the seal was seemingly unfazed by all the attention, as reported by What’s The Jam.
The animal eventually stopped to rest against a vehicle near a main road.
Local officials, who said it was rare but not unheard of for elephant seals to sneak into urban communities, quickly stepped in to assist.
Inspectors are now planning its return to the ocean.
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The sighting took place on Tuesday (27 May) in Gordon’s Bay, a harbour town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
And this isn’t the first time a seal has ventured into suburbia.
A similar incident took place in 2022 when a seal was found crossing a major road in Cape Town.
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Social media users reacted emotionally to the seal’s unexpected visit.
Terri commented: “Oh wow.. just saw a video of this and initially thought it was AI.. such an enormous, beautiful animal! Thank you for helping.”
Judy said: “Thank you to the rescue team.”
Jilly added: “Poor baby!! Hope you can get her safely back to her home soon with as little stress as possible.”
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