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Speaker 1: It's sealed the singer's sixty third birthday today, but it's

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Speaker 1: not him that it's been spotted causing a bit of

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Speaker 1: us around Ashburton this week. Actual seals may have spotted

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Speaker 1: him of Dave Oakley's photos on social media. Local dock

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Speaker 1: ranger is in Fraser morning. Kyoto, look you go, youre good.

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Speaker 1: Have you seen the pictures? We can confirm that these

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Speaker 1: are seals.

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Speaker 2: I have seen the pictures and these are in fact

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Speaker 2: New Zealand Sea lions, which are much rarer thane of

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Speaker 2: which we usually see around here.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay, how so well?

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Speaker 2: The New Yeald Sea lions when they used to be

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Speaker 2: everywhere back in the day before humans are around, but

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Speaker 2: they got kind of clubbed and persecuted until they were

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Speaker 2: really restricted down to the Subantarctic islands. And they're pretty rare.

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Speaker 2: But they are making a bit of a comeback on

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Speaker 2: the mainland now and some have turned up here at

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Speaker 2: to Mashburton has good.

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Speaker 1: Is it rare that we we spot them on our shores? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: This is I've been around here for about sixty years.

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Speaker 2: I think this is first time we've had them up

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Speaker 2: that far. So I've talked to my colleagues. They have

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Speaker 2: seen a couple up as high as front of the

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Speaker 2: coast as Kakoda, but we quite often have them from

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Speaker 2: kind of Kimadoo south and then down to Ardanee and

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Speaker 2: they breed on the attack confidential and so it's quite

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Speaker 2: a few down there.

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Speaker 1: That is a big swim. Wow. What's bringing them here?

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Speaker 1: Is it the cuddy weather?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Maybe this in the summer. Yeah, I think it's

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Speaker 2: there ones in the photo. It's hard to tell from

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Speaker 2: the photos, but we think they're probably young males. And

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Speaker 2: if you're a young male felion, there's not a whole

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Speaker 2: lot to do so a big part of the year

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Speaker 2: because you're too small to be to be holding some

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Speaker 2: beach and competing with the big you know, Ford Kilo

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Speaker 2: beach mouses. So so you kind of swimmer around, explore

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Speaker 2: and they kind of love river mouths and sandy beaches

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Speaker 2: and as they spread north. I'm kind of not that

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Speaker 2: surprised that they's turned up here.

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Speaker 1: Ye're brilliant. I wouldn't say that walking Ewy Beach is

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Speaker 1: awfully sandy though.

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Speaker 2: No, well, the photos I've seen it seems as a Wakanoi,

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Speaker 2: but it doesn't. It looks more like that. And I

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Speaker 2: heard that they were up the river too, and the

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Speaker 2: Arctary and the Ashburnen River itself, and the photo of

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Speaker 2: saying looks looks more like the like the lagoon just

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Speaker 2: behind the beach at down at the river mouth. So

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Speaker 2: so yeah, I don't think, you know, the smaller fur

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Speaker 2: seals that tend to like the rocky places, sea lions

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Speaker 2: tend to like the sandy bits and grumble beaches.

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Speaker 1: So so we come across one of these on our travels,

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Speaker 1: maybe into the weekend. Obviously very exciting. You've got to

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Speaker 1: get the photo to go and check on our own

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Speaker 1: Facebook page. But what should we actually do? Do you

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Speaker 1: do you want to know about this?

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Speaker 2: Just no, I think I mean, at the moment, there

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Speaker 2: are sea lions being sea lions. What we'd like people

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Speaker 2: to do is to just give them some space. So

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Speaker 2: we have to keep about twenty meters back, you know,

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Speaker 2: absolutely make sure you keep your dolls on a leak,

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Speaker 2: if your dogs away from them. But they're just they're

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Speaker 2: just sea lions doing their thing. We we'll, you know,

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Speaker 2: we'll have our kind of our eyes and ears out

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Speaker 2: in the community to see when they go. But both

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Speaker 2: people just give them space and just you know, enjoy

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Speaker 2: the nature. Always be naturing. Go out, mister sea lions

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Speaker 2: out there, enjoy the birds and the other things that

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Speaker 2: are down the beach.

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Speaker 1: Just gives us another reason to get out into the

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Speaker 1: free share. Are they Are they aggressive and dangerous?

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Speaker 2: No, not really. I've never heard of one personally having

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Speaker 2: a crack the one they can. They're quite curious and

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Speaker 2: they're not that afraid of people. They can sometimes do

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Speaker 2: a bit of a run towards you, but but just

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Speaker 2: just back away from them. They're just they're they're you know,

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Speaker 2: they're kind of curious rather than rather than aggressive, And

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Speaker 2: I mean, if you don't get too close, they're very

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Speaker 2: unlikely to q twenty minutes back. They're very unlikely to

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Speaker 2: take any interest in you at all.

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Speaker 1: Tourists flocking to mid Canterbury, no matter what shape or

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Speaker 1: animal form they take, welcome. Cheers for filling us in

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Speaker 1: doc Ranger in Fracer