UNUSUAL VISITOR.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1921, Page 12

UNUSUAL VISITOR.

INVERCARGILL’S SEA-LION. SHOT BY A SPECTATOR. The news that a sea-lion had found its way up the Waihopae River at Invercargill, and was disporting itself in (he neighborhood of the bridge, brought many Invercargill people to the scene one morning recently. The reality was scarcely up to expectation. In the morning the animal played under the bridge and the people above had a splendid view. In the early afternoon, however, the visitor took to 1 the deep waters that the incoming tide gave him. and he rose only as often'as his lungs required, despite the of a number of energetic dogs and stonethrowing small boys. 'There must havt? been close upon 300 adults on the bank, not to count innumerable small boys, when a shot rang out from a service rifle carried by a man. The man had tried to shoot the animal before, it appears, but this was his first successful shot. The animal was pulled to the shore, bleeding profusely, and still showing signs of life. A rope was affixed to it. and a blow dealt to the back of the head with a hammer did not kill it. It was pulled 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 river through the simple expedient of placing a length of netting wire from bank to bank under the bridge. There was considerable discussion as to whether the animal was a sea-lion or a seal. From snout to tail it measured Bft. 2in., ami it had a girth of about sft The skin was smooth and black, while the belly was spotted like a leopard. The tail was split, and the two flappers were very short. It had a coneshaped head and a long nose.