Story By: Juan Fenandez Mayes, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
This is the incredible moment a large elephant seal is seen dragging itself across the streets of a town in the Chilean Patagonia before neighbours help guide it back to sea.
The large animal was stranded in the town of Puerto Cisnes in the Aysen province located in Chilean Patagonia in the south of the country on Monday 5th October.
The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) was filmed by local neighbour Angela Segura who told Newsflash she saw it near her house while she was in the street with her daughter and “decided to post a video” where she could “warn” citizens.
The video shows the moment the elephant seal moves onto the middle of the street and a car just in front of it flashes its lights apparently trying to make it move.
It cuts to show dozens of people holding a large drape running alongside it seemingly guiding it back to water as it is seen bobbing up and down under the black cover and the person filming says “back to the sea”.
The video ends showing the large marine animal dragging itself across the pavement as people watch and a car slowly drives past.
Segura said it moved around 10 blocks in the town and “did not have injuries” but “since it drags itself” was “very tired despite its agility”.
She said it was a “really nice experience” as many locals, although having lived in Patagonia for several years, had never seen an elephant seal adding that “it looked like a whale from how big it was” adding “it opened the hearts” of locals who just wanted “to return it to the sea”.
Female southern elephant seals weigh an average of 880 to 1,980 lbs and measure 8.5 to 9.8 ft long, whereas bulls can range from 4,900 to 8,800 lbs and be 14 to 19 ft long.
It is unclear if the elephant seal in the video was male or female.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
