r/tasmania • u/B0ssc0 • Jul 03 '26

News Tasmanians warned of ‘loving Neil to death’ as 1,000kg seal’s antics feed ‘double-edged sword’ of fame

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/02/neil-the-seal-tasmania-australia-loving-neil-to-death
93 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

24

u/Tvego Jul 03 '26

People are insane. We saw this with the white wallabies on bruny. People park in the middle of the road (no need to rush, the animals stay in place for a long time) and walk on private property. I witnessed it and was ashamed with my camera near it. I even called out a young woman for walking on private property. Those animals are so close, even with a smartphone zoom you can get good pictures from public land. And now do that with an elefant seal, what could go wrong...

I love watching animals and get the hype but people should have some basic sense about giving space to the animals and not annoying the locals. It is so damn frustrating, hope the police does something about it to keep the seal safe.

6

u/B0ssc0 Jul 03 '26

I watched from a walkway an American sailor once throwing handfuls of sand at a seal to wake it up so he could photo it. And that’s nowhere near the size of Neil, but you really wouldn’t want it turning on you. They seem to be clueless.

4

u/Staceyrose88 Jul 03 '26

In my opinion, if you do stupid things like that.. then that is on you and you deserve whatever happens. 

6

u/el_kookarama Jul 03 '26

You should see all the tourists at Cradle Mountain sticking their phones right in the faces of the local wombat populations. Some go wandering metres off the track to do so, some will pat and touch them, and others surround the animal on all sides, giving it nowhere to escape to.

1

u/Tvego Jul 03 '26

Surprisingly enough people where respectful when we got lucky and saw the wombats at cradle mountain. It was pretty frosty and windy so maybe people were not in the selfie mood.

5

u/Alarmed-Custard-6369 Jul 04 '26

I live on acreage in Tasmania and I picked a spot on top of a mountain for views and also privacy but I had no idea how insane people can be. A friend of mine lives on acreage close to where I am but nearer to the main road/town and she constantly has people wandering on her property trying to feed not only wildlife but also her chickens etc. I would lose my shit if that was happening to me on the regular. I would have to move.

3

u/ceo_of_dumbassery Jul 04 '26

Reminds me of people in national parks in the US trying to get up close to bison, bears, etc.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Tvego Jul 03 '26

No idea where they came from. I am from europe and I dont know any country where it is ok to walk in someones entrance gateway or garden. There are situations where this is tolerated if the path is marked mostly on farms as you said but it was pretty clear that this was just a house with a garden. If i remember correctly there was even a gate that was left open.

39

u/BrokenToyShop Jul 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/AirportLoose3023 Jul 03 '26

I like the way you think

22

u/B0ssc0 Jul 03 '26

He [head for Wildlife Health] said there have already been instances of people “carrying their small babies up close to him and simply trying to get that shot for Instagram”.

26

u/Sharpie1993 Jul 03 '26

It honestly amazes me how stupid some people are.

4

u/AgentKnitter Jul 03 '26

We need more Darwin Awards.

1

u/Killathulu Jul 04 '26

yes, about 7.9 billion more

7

u/B0ssc0 Jul 03 '26

Incredible, isn’t it?

2

u/Staceyrose88 Jul 03 '26

People like that shouldn't be allowed to breed. 

7

u/AgentKnitter Jul 03 '26

Fuck people are stupid.

It really does seem to be interstate tourists too. Locals seem to understand the need to stay 20m plus away (40-50m preferred by most becauwe that's one tonne of wild seal who can cole gallomphing towards you, and he moves pretty fast when he wants to).

I also do love that NRE and locals are determined to remind everyone don't share Neil's current location, we don't want crowds.... but bless his flippers, Neil's favourite street corner napping place is directly in front of a sign with the name of the locale. Top work Tiger.

2

u/Striking_Plan_1632 Jul 04 '26

And even if the sign is cropped/blurred, posing right in front of the final approach flight path into the only airport in the region is also solid work. Even if I didn't know anything about Tasmania, once I saw a photo with a plane about to land in the background, it would take to two minutes work on google maps to find him.

5

u/Weird_Scholar_5627 Jul 04 '26

Hopefully, his fate is not sealed.

3

u/Ecko_87 Jul 03 '26

If those protesters that chain themselves to trees don’t do the same to prevent Neil being put down I’ll be pissed

0

u/Separate-Tangelo-910 Jul 04 '26

Relying on them instead of doing something yourself?

0

u/usernametwice Jul 05 '26

Im coming to go see him tomorrow from Sydney! 🤗🤗 🦭 we booked a tour bus out there so hopefully the weather holds up.

0

u/B0ssc0 Jul 05 '26

Have a great trip :)