UNUSUAL VISITOR

Northern Advocate, 20 September 1921, Page 2

UNUSUAL VISITOR

INVERCARGILL 'S SEA-LION.

SHOT BY A SPECTATOR"-

The news that a sea-lion had founii its way up the Waihopai River at Invercargill, and was disporting itself ii£ the neighbourhood of the brid£C r brought many Invercargill people lo> the scene one morning recently.

The reality was scarcely up to expectation. In the morning the animai' played under the bridge and the poopie above had a splendid view the early .afternoon, however, the visitor took to the deep waters that the incoming tide gave him, and he rose only as often as his lungs required, despiter the efforts of a number of energeticdogs and stone-throwing small boys.

There must have been closo upon 300 adults on the bank, not to count innumberable small boys, when a thofc rang out from a service rifle carried bya man. The man had tried to shoot the animal before, it. appears, but this was his first successful shot. The Mama! was pulled to the shore, bleedingprofusely, and still showing signs of" life. A rope was affixed to it, and ar blow dealt to the back of the head with a hammer did not kill it. It waspulled up on the road, where it eventually died.

The shooting caused considerable indignation among the spectators, many of whom considered that the animal could have been kept in the tivef through the simple expedient of a length of netting wire from banl; tobank under the bridge.

There was considerable discussion as to whether the animal was a sca-lioa or a seal. From snout to tail it measured Bft. 2in., and it had a girth of about sft. The skin was smooth and bkek,. while the belly was spotted like a leopard. The tail was split, and the two flappers were very short. It had a eone«shaped head and a long nose.