Neil the Seal has returned — and it didn’t take long for Tasmania’s most famous troublemaker to cause chaos again.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The southern elephant seal, now a towering subadult weighing somewhere between 600kg and 1,000kg depending on reports, has once again become the centre of attention after sprawling himself across a road in Primrose Sands and refusing to move.
For locals, it’s the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the beloved marine giant who has built a cult following for his habit of popping up in the most inconvenient places imaginable.
For wildlife workers, though, it meant another difficult callout.
As reported by News.com.au, footage shared online on Wednesday captured the moment Tasmanian wildlife officers attempted to move Neil off the road using a padded pole and board — a clip that quickly sparked fierce debate across social media.
The vision shows Neil, clearly unimpressed, being prodded and guided as he rears up and lashes around while a crowd watches on.
It took around two minutes before the huge seal finally gave in and shuffled toward the pavement.
“There he goes,” Jason Howlett says in the footage. “Well done, boys!”
But the method used to move him has left plenty of people divided.
Howlett, who runs one of the internet’s most-followed Neil the Seal fan pages, made his feelings clear as the scene unfolded.
“All they needed to do is get a big traffic cone to lure him off the road … but, no, they want to whack him,” he said in the footage. “I don’t agree with it. They’re trying to get him back on the beach and then they’re going to electric fence the track to keep Neil on the beach. I would have used the traffic cone to lure him without hitting him.”
That suggestion wasn’t random.
Neil has become notorious for his fascination with orange traffic cones — chewing them, chasing them and, at times, appearing more interested in them than the humans trying to manage him.
It’s part of the reason he’s become such a local celebrity.
The five-year-old southern elephant seal – born in 2020 at Salem Bay on the Tasman Peninsula – has spent recent years hauling himself into populated areas around Tasmania, becoming impossible to ignore.
He’s lounged in front of cars. He’s blocked roads. He’s parked himself outside businesses. He’s even inspired songs, unofficial merchandise, and social media pages dedicated entirely to tracking his movements.
Tasmania’s Marine Conservation Program has gone as far as creating an Instagram account just for him, giving followers regular updates whenever he appears.
But his latest stunt has reopened a bigger conversation: how do you safely handle an animal that big?
Online, plenty of viewers weren’t happy with what they saw.
“Poor Neil he is so upset. Stop being mean to Neil,” one person commented, with a second adding: “They’re not doing a very good job.”
“I can’t even watch this,” a third typed.
Others went even further.
Neil’s supporters accused workers of “antagonised” and “harassed” behaviour, while one called the footage “disgusting”.
“You should never hit an animal. Ever,” one person wrote.
“Such an aggressive response to this situation,” another said.
“Marine conservation and they have no f***ing idea. Leave him the f*** alone,” another added.
One viewer questioned whether authorities should know better by now.
“It’s not their first rodeo,” she said. “I definitely don’t agree with the electric fence. He’s going to wind up getting hurt. Or they will when he gets aggressive. I don’t see that ending well at all.”
Another added: “This is just going to make him have aggression issues towards humans and make him dangerous.”
“This is the opposite of the way that this should be handled,” she said. “Kindness and care for the animal, not fear and abuse.”
Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment has defended the actions of its staff, insisting the use of a padded pole and board is an internationally recognised wildlife management technique and caused no harm.
According to the department, the goal was simple: protect both Neil and the public.
Because despite his internet fame and lumbering movements, Neil is far from harmless. Authorities have repeatedly warned that elephant seals can be dangerous if approached, particularly as they grow older.
And Neil is growing fast.
Southern elephant seals are the largest species of seal on Earth, with adult males capable of weighing up to 3,000kg.
At five years old, Neil is entering what experts describe as his “teenage” phase — a period where behaviour can become more aggressive.
Researcher Dr Ian Field, who has studied elephant seals for 15 years, summed it up bluntly.
“They’re teenage boys. They’re getting bigger. They want to earn the right to reproduce. And to do that, they need to hone their skills of fighting and also interacting,” Dr Field told ABC News.
That means Neil’s increasing size isn’t just making him harder to move — it’s making him more unpredictable.
Dr Field explained why wildlife staff sometimes have to take a dominant approach.
“If you do have to interact with them and you want to move them, then really you need to make yourself seem and appear bigger than they are. You need to have some sort of dominance,” he said. “In terms of stature, in terms of noise, or in terms of something that he can feel so that you are proving to him that you’re the dominant and he needs to move along.”
That reality hasn’t stopped people from becoming deeply attached to him.
Last year, Howlett himself was fined $1,200 by Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service after allegedly disturbing Neil.
He denied doing anything wrong.
“I have nothing but respect for Neil’s boundaries and have educated the general public in doing so,” he wrote. “I have never disclosed his location on my TikTok as they are saying I do. I have never tried to make money out of Neil this whole entire time.”
For now, Neil is back where he belongs — at least until the next time he decides a public road looks like the perfect place for a nap.
And if history tells us anything, that probably won’t be long.
Featured image credit: TikTok/NeilTheSeal316 (screenshot)
