Salmon instead of beer Baby seal on a pub crawl in New Zealand
A baby seal causes a stir in a pub in New Zealand. It is finally rescued with salmon and a dog cage. "Fern" is now a social media star.
05.12.2025, 04:25
05.12.2025, 07:02
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- A baby seal has turned up in a pub in New Zealand.
- Several pieces of fresh salmon were used to lure the stray seal into a dog cage.
- Shortly afterwards, rangers were called and took the unusual pub guest away.
An unusual guest has surprised visitors to a pub in New Zealand: a baby seal suddenly wandered into the pub "Sprig + Fern The Meadows" on the South Island, as the pub owners announced on Facebook. According to co-owner Bella Evans, she initially thought the animal was a dog before taking a closer look at the intruder.
"We've never had this before! Today we had a super cute, unexpected guest in the pub: a baby seal!" the pub wrote on social media. "It came in all on its own, had a little look around and stole the show." A video of the incident, which took place last weekend, has already been clicked hundreds of thousands of times.
"The animal was obviously lost, curious and well under the legal drinking age in New Zealand," joked CNN Asia Pacific on X. The news site "Stuff" wrote, citing the pub operators, that the seal pup had suddenly waddled in through the front door.
Bright idea: salmon!
Then it first went to the toilet, then ran out again and finally hid under the dishwasher. Employees had the presence of mind to unplug the dishwasher to prevent the little intruder from injuring itself.
Then the brilliant idea: salmon! "One of our guests had a dog cage," said Evans. He managed to lure the seal into the box with several pieces of fresh salmon. Shortly afterwards, rangers from the Department of Conservation arrived and took the cute pub guest away. The seal pup, which was christened "Fern", was released in a safe place on nearby Rabbit Island.
The pub appears to be extremely popular with animals: Two days after the seal, according to another Facebook post, a "bearded dragon" came to visit - a large species of lizard with spines on its chin.
