Dunedin sea lion Paige is making a splash online with her seaside shenanigans, most recently starring in a video with more than one million views.
The video of the creature frolicking in a Brighton swimming hole with a pair of pilfered wetsuit booties while their owner looks on has received 1.1 million views on Facebook.
Jeremy Burdett said his sons Lucas (14) and Toby (16) had gone for a swim when "next thing you know Paige is popping up and is having a wee tug on [Lucas'] bootie".
He was able to retrieve one shoe himself, and the other was later spotted floating out in the waves and was retrieved by the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club.
It was the second time Paige's antics had been caught on video over the holiday period, after she gate-crashed a family picnic on New Year's Day.
Most young sea lions were playful, and Paige was even more so, making her famous in the area, he said.
His sons were "good as gold" after the incident, and would likely be back in the water sooner or later, he said.
They were very excited that their video had gone viral.
"When it got to 100,000 [views] it was pretty cool, then next thing you know it was 400,000, then 600,000.
"It just kept going up _ who knows when it will stop."
Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said although he was unable to spot the pink tag which would confirm the sea lion in the video was Paige, it was likely that it was.
If someone found themselves in a similar situation, with a sea lion tugging on their shoe, they should ignore it, as this would make the animal lose interest.
"Be boring, you're not dinner," he said.
"They're just entertaining themselves."
Sea lions were like dogs, and if a you started running, they would start chasing, he said.
"You can see the engagement - he is totally in a game with her."
