Australian woman finds sleeping seal in cemetery toilet

The discovery of the 120 kilogramme animal was even more surprising as he was half a kilometre from the nearest body of water.

Sammy, the fur seal found snoozing in a cemetary toilet in Tasmania. Devonport City Council / AFP Photo

SYDNEY // A woman using the toilets at a cemetery in Australia had the fright of her life after finding a large fur seal sleeping in the cubicle.

The discovery of the 120 kilogram animal was even more surprising as he was half a kilometre from the nearest body of water.

“We thought it was a practical joke when we were told,” Karina Moore from Devonport Council in north-west Tasmania said.

“It’s a big mystery. It’s very unusual to find a seal so far inland.

“There’s a small creek about half a kilometre away but he would still have had to cross a busy road and several paddocks to make it to the cemetery.”

The council called in Parks and Wildlife officials who sedated the seal, which they named Sammy, before moving him to a beach and releasing him.

Wildlife biologist Rachel Alderman told ABC radio Australian fur seals were common around Tasmania.

“They’re a really abundant species all around Tasmania, particularly in Bass Strait, and we’ve had them turn up in paddocks, people’s backyards, and now we can add a toilet block in a cemetery to the list,” she said.

* Agence France-Presse