Meet Neil, Australia’s leading car wrecker – National 1-ton seal

Like many local boys before him, Neil has come home to the Australian coastline where he was born. Unlike most of them, he follows fame, fans and property damage behind him. He is also a 1,000 kg (2,200 pound) elephant seal.

In June, the 5-year-old howling mammal dragged itself ashore on its two-year tour of coastal towns in the southern state of Tasmania after spending months at sea. That creates problems as he weighs the same as a small car and has a social media following that is more than double the number of Tasmanians.

His violence against the local infrastructure required bent road balls, a sign warning the public about water dogs and a fence that did not survive Neil’s attempt to close it. The rest of the time he sleeps comfortably in any place he likes, sometimes in the middle of the road, in the cities he visits.

But officials say their biggest concern is that Neil’s popularity could lead to unplanned human-seal encounters that are dangerous for both sides.

Neil, the only male elephant to visit Tasmania in years, has commanded an impressive TikTok following of 1.4 million in part because he behaves like a bully. During his visit to the coast, for the 12th time, his crimes included fighting with parked cars and smashing through barriers placed to block him on the road.

Those antics have prompted some on the Internet to hail Neil as a kind of anti-authoritarian hero. But experts say it’s a normal test for a growing seal.

Adolescent male elephant dogs need to practice dominance battles where the adults raise and thump their chests together as they compete for breeding opportunities, said Sophia Volzke, an elephant dog scientist based at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.

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With no other juniors to practice with, Neil can only practice on Toyotas.

Local officials fear Neil is the latest wild animal whose social media fame has outlived its usefulness.

“Neil’s reputation is a double-edged sword,” said Kris Carlyon of Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, at a press conference in Hobart on Thursday where he asked supporters of the department to give him privacy.

“We’ve had some crazy behavior, incidents where people are carrying their little kids next to him and trying to take a picture on Instagram,” he said.

Officials urged the public to stop identifying Neil as a fun or scary city, depending on who you talk to. They fear that a dangerous encounter between a seal and a noble could force the rangers to undertake a dangerous mission to take him elsewhere.

Carlyon also warned of the worst. In the 2023 episode, a walrus known as Freya that drew huge crowds in Norway was euthanized after officials raised a growing threat to public safety.

“There’s a danger here of loving Neil to death,” said Carlyon.

It is common for seals to return twice a year to their breeding grounds to rest, molt and molt. Many species migrate inland during coastal visits, sometimes leading to coastal towns.

What is unusual about Neil is that he is the only male elephant to be dragged along the coast in Tasmania.

The sub-Antarctic islands south of Tasmania are home to elephant dog breeding and Neil’s mother would come from one of them to give birth, Volzke said. Females have been spotted on beaches in Tasmania before, but coming out to the size Neil reached when he was a year or two old, they didn’t cause the same kind of commotion, he added.

“People abandoned those animals and now they are probably coming back to fill the places where they were seen before,” he said. “We need to find a way to live together.”

That could be a trick for Neil, and the guards, policemen and security guards who follow him. If he survives to adulthood, Neil can reach 5 meters (16 feet) in length and weigh three times what he does now.

However, about 90 percent of male elephant seals die before they reach the age of about 10, Volzke said.

For now, Neil the seal takes a back seat, motionless and undisturbed. He sometimes eats candles from an orange traffic cone, much to the delight of his online fans. It is not clear why he preferred the place he has returned to even after it was taken by the military.

“He’s obviously decided that this pool surrounded by bollards, which are horizontal right now, is his place,” Carlyon said Thursday.

His fans can relate. Locals have mixed feelings.

“He’s one of the biggest exports we have right now,” said Dale Creamer, a resident of the town who is currently being dumped by the seal, undeterred. “It’s Neil’s world and we just live in it.”

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