A Baby Fur Seal Breaks Into A New Zealand Home, Terrorizes The Cat Who Lives There, And Takes Over The Couch

Coco the cat was less than pleased

Kylin

• Published in Animals
• September 13, 2022

Generally speaking, when you leave the house for only a few hours, whether to run errands or hit the gym, you could assume locking up would be more than enough to keep anyone out. It’s definitely a safe assumption, and technically what transpired in a New Zealand home in Mt. Maunganui wasn’t a typical breaking and entering.

Jenn Ross arrived home from an early morning fitness class to the most unexpected intruder: a juvenile fur seal. While Ross recounts that she heard some barking and scurrying around when she was loading up to leave for her class, she just assumed it was a neighbor's dog and carried on with her morning.

Things were more obviously amiss when she returned home and found some buckets out of place in their garage. Understandably, she chalked up the mess to their family cat, Coco, thinking maybe she had brought in a bird.

Imagine her surprise when she made her way inside to find the young seal in the hall. The seal must have entered the home through the two pet flaps installed for Coco to be able to come and go, and the family believes Oscar likely entered the house while chasing after poor Coco.

Keep scrolling to see pictures from the surprising early morning intrusion, and read more about the adorable and humorous story.

The Ross family

From left to right: Noah, Jenn, Ari and Phil

Oh, good morning

It was around 7 a.m. on a Wednesday when Mrs. Ross discovered the seal. Knowing this was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter, she woke her two children, Noah, 12, and Ari, 10, to see the juvenile fur seal.

The kids were ecstatic about the visitor, and named the seal “Oscar,” but everyone kept their distance, as he growled at the curious human on-lookers. "They thought it was pretty cool to have a seal in the house, but they don't get that this is such a strange thing to happen ... they just think it's another cool thing about living in the Bay of Plenty."

Coco was NOT pleased

While the family home isn't located too far from the sea, it's assumed that while Coco was out exploring she came across Oscar the seal. She has been known to confront dogs in the neighborhood, so she might have "tried to take on" Oscar in the yard, with Oscar responding in kind.

Good thing he's cute

Ironically, Jenn Ross is married to marine biologist and University of Waikato researcher, Phil Ross, who was away for work at the time. "This was the one kind of family emergency where a marine biologist would have been useful - I missed my time to shine," Mr. Ross joked.

"Are you real?"

Mrs. Ross found the entire situation to be hilarious, and after capturing some photos for posterity, she rang the Department of Conservation to come to collect Oscar so he could be safely returned to the ocean. Mr. Ross suggested Oscar looked to be around 10 months old, equating him to a "teenager."

Much like human teenagers, Mr. Ross said that seals at this age may make poor decisions. Such as swimming in bad weather or moving inland to rest.

Coco says "Yes.... The inside of the seals mouth did look like this"

Traumatized, Coco ended up taking refuge at a neighbor's house. And continuing the good humor of the exciting interaction, the Ross family made Coco an Instagram account: CocoCatSealRustler.

Oscar had a good bit of exploring

In spite of Coco's trauma, Oscar was a considerate house guest. It was reported that he "had a good roam around the house," exploring their spare room and even hopped up on a couch, and fortunately made no messes in the Ross home.

"I'm pretty happy there is no seal poo on the carpet or the couch. I am sure that would have been fairly terminal for the furniture."

Eventually, Oscar was picked up by the Department of Conservation

Mrs. Ross opened the front door of their home after calling the Department of Conservation and Oscar was happy to continue his exploration outside in their front yard. She shut the gate to their front yard to keep him from wandering into the road, and he was eventually picked up by a ranger and released back into the harbor.

Relief that the intruder is gone

Coco refused to go downstairs the rest of the day following the seal break-in but eventually sniffed around and began to relax once she was sure Oscar was gone.

'Seally' season

Mr. Ross and his family have seen many seals on the beach around this time of year, but they have never heard of a seal entering a home before.

“The message to the public would probably be; if they see seals on the beach or in unusual coastal places they are probably just having a rest, rather than being sick or injured. Best to give them space and keep dogs away from them.”

Many news outlets picked up Coco and Oscar's story to share worldwide.

You can watch a local news clip below

Leave it to the internet to make a meme of the encounter

This is literally a work of art, and Phil Ross' favorite bit to come from their viral story. "...if anyone knows the real Seal, let him know that he is welcome to drop by anytime for a jam."

It’s always important to remember that no matter how cute wild animals are, whether it’s a seal or another sort of animal, you should never approach, feed or try to touch them. It’s best to contact your local wildlife services to help relocate the animal if they’re in a place or situation where they cannot navigate their way out.

In any case, we can all live vicariously through this adorable and amusing story at any time thanks to the internet. If you enjoyed this story, be sure to share it with your friends!

Kylin