Traffic in Middle Park slowed to a crawl this morning after a fur seal parked itself in the middle of a busy road to sunbake.
Police and Wildlife Victoria were called at 7am after the large marine mammal lay down on Beaconsfield Parade between Armstrong Street and McGregor Street.
Wildlife Victoria relationships manager Amy Amato, who volunteers as an animal rescuer on weekends, tied two blankets together and herded the grumpy animal back into the water with the help of a police officer.
...."He was quite happy sunbaking on the road and he didn't want to move," Amato told The Age. "He tried to bite us a couple of times so we had to move him slowly."
"We had to make him realise that we were doing this for his own good."
..... After being moved away from the road, the animal was briefly stuck on top of a bluestone fence.
It took more than half an hour to move it back into the water. ...
Senior Constable Katie Shore, Constable Greg Green and Sergeant Nitsa Tsilfidis all helped with the operation.
Constable Green said the welfare of the seal wasn't police's only concern.
“The hardest thing was trying to keep people back who wanted to come down and have a look and take a photo,” he said.
“It makes a nice change from dealing with crooks and we're just happy it was resolved and the seal is now back where he should be."
A seal sunbakes in Port Melbourne.
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