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Wrong turn temporarily strands moulting elephant seal on B.C. highway

Some serious gruntwork needed by police and fisheries officials to return it to nearby waterway
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A team spent more than two hours redirecting a juvenile elephant away from the Trans-Canada Highway in Saanich. (Gorge Tillicum Community Association/Facebook)

A walk in the park unveiled an unusual visitor.

A juvenile elephant seal was found near an exit ramp of the Trans-Canada Highway in the Victoria suburb of Saanich on Monday, March 27.

In a post on the Gorge Tillicum Community Association Facebook page, Dorthy Chambers said the seal had made a wrong turn when looking for a quiet place to moult and ended up near the highway.

Two officers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and two officers with the Saanich Police Department nudged the seal back over the berm and into Cuthbert Holmes Park. It was a slow process, taking about an hour-and-a-half of grunt work – both from the officers and the seal.

Chambers joined officers in the park and said it took another hour to get the seal back into Colquitz Creek.

READ MORE: Elephant seal picks busy spot for catastrophic moult