La belle province is known for having diverse wildlife, and for getting excited when certain fauna are spotted outside their usual habitat. Over the weekend, a seal was spotted hanging loose on a dock by the L'Assomption River near Repentigny.
The big marine mammal was recorded by several residents, including singer Roxane Bruneau. In her Instagram story, we can see the animal sunbathing and moving his flippers.
"There is a seal behind our house. He's on my neighbour's dock! It's so cute that I would go lay down and spoon it," wrote the artist.
Roxanne Bruneau's Instagram story.@roxanebruneau | Instagram
Another person shared a short video of the cute creature at sunset.
To get more information about the animal, Narcity Québec asked Dominique Berteaux, the Canada Research Chair in Northern Biodiversity at the Université du Quebec à Rimouski.
"It's probably not a sea lion, but rather a seal, even if it's hard to tell, because there are no sea lions in Quebec and it would mean it has escaped from captivity, which is more than unlikely," he said.
According to the expert, this scene is quite unusual but not abnormal. “We sometimes see seals on docks in the south of Quebec, so this one just went a little further upstream,” Berteaux said.
The academic believes that in such situations, "the best thing to do is to leave [the seal] alone and enjoy its presence without disturbing it if possible."
The seal's appearance is perhaps less consequential than recent visits to Montreal's waters by whales — an occurrence of great concern to scientists.
