It was a rainy Sunday in Richmond, New Zealand—a day like any other. Suddenly, a baby seal decided to become a viral star by springing through the door of a craft beer bar called Sprig + Fern The Meadows.
Luckily, as the AP reports, it was all captured on security camera footage. Also, a big round of applause to Associated Press writer Charlotte Graham-McLay, the reporter of this story, for using the word “galumphed” when describing the seals’ locomotion. Top-notch word choice. Truly spectacular.
Co-owner Bella Evans first thought the seal was a dog, because that’s a normal thing to find wandering around a pet-friendly pub. She quickly realized, hopefully not for the first time, that dogs don’t have flippers. She suddenly realized she was in a situation that she was not trained for: how do you get a baby seal out of your bar?
Seal Wanders Into New Zealand Bar, Refuses to Leave
The answer she went with was to try everything and anything. In the security footage, you can see a patron trying the classic Matador technique: holding a jacket out with both arms like a matador holds a Cape. Only instead of the bull charging at the Cape, the terrified little seal ran away from it.
In fact, the Cape holding guy probably made matters worse by assuring the seal deeper into the bar than it may have on its own. The seal eventually bobbed and flopped its way into the restaurant bathroom. Someone had the wherewithal to fetch a dog crate.
“I just went to my fiancé. I said, ‘Grab the salmon! Grab the salmon!’” Evans recalled discovering that even a baby seal might share some tastes with the hungover Sunday brunch crowd.
Conservation rangers eventually arrived after a busy hunt for the fugitive and several others. It was their fourth seal call of the day. According to the Department of Conservation, the wandering little guy had been spotted all over town before choosing the bar as its final hideout. Staff kept it safe until the rangers collected it.
Named “Fern” by the brewery’s workers, the baby seal was released on nearby Rabbit Island and is expected to be fine. Officials say that young seals get wanderlust every year, turning up everywhere from golf courses to busy roads.
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