Word of the seal’s rescue by NSW National Parks and Wildlife and Bega Valley Shire Council rangers traveled overseas, with the BBC, The Daily Mail and Mashable.com jumping on board and also reporting on what rangers described as an “odd” occurrence.

Jellat Flats farmer John Daly and his wife Janny said it hasn’t been uncommon this year to see seals along the brackish section of the river at the flats.

“We knew there had been a couple in the river over the last 12 months swimming around, eating and having a great time,” Ms Daly said.

“It was just the strangest thing, we looked out and there were five or six cars parked along the road.

“I think not being used to grass he [the seal] was getting tired.”

Early on Tuesday morning, Jellat Jellat’s Corrie Shepherd saw the New Zealand fur seal making its way on to the paddock from the banks of Jellat Jellat Creek.

She called the NPWS, and rangers from Merimbula and Tanja were quickly joined by Bega Valley Shire Council Rangers in helping to wrangle, transport and release the lost animal into the river mouth at Mogareeka Inlet, north of Tathra.

NPWS’s Grant Brewer used a purpose built net to sling over the animal and fellow ranger Brett Evans was first to pounce on the healthy but tired male seal.

While they have received training in dealing with the animals, Mr Evans said if the seal was any larger the team would have attempted to usher it back into the waterway rather than net it and transport it to the river mouth.

Mr Brewer said the seal had been sighted by fisherman along the stretch of river over the last few days.

In May 2015 a fur seal pup was discovered among cows in a paddock 40km from the South Australian coast, baffling rangers and Adelaide Zoo staff.

The species is classified as vulnerable in NSW, and a report to the NSW Scientific Committee in 2001 stated it was “threatened by commercial and recreational fishing operations, particularly through bycatch mortality around Montague Island.”

The report also found fishing operations may limit the availability of prey items for visiting seals. 

According to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, the species “suffered a severe decline as a result of commercial sealing from 1798 until protection measures were introduced in Western Australia in 1892 and in South Australia in 1919”, and breeding colonies on islands in the Bass Strait were eliminated by the early 1800s.

The department states the species prefers “rocky parts of islands with jumbled terrain and boulders” and feeds mostly on octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, fish, seabirds and occasionally penguins.

Rangers holding the seal inside the trailer, during the 15 minute journey from the paddock to the river mouth, said the seal became excited as soon as it smelt the familiar sea air.