Phoenix Agnew (13), of Dunedin texts on his cellphone beside A dead male elephant seal washed up on a beach north of Dunedin. Photo by DOC.
A dead male elephant seal washed up on a beach north of Dunedin at the weekend. The fate of the elephant seal may be known later today.
Department of Conservation biodiversity assets programme manager David Agnew said it was "reasonably unusual" for an elephant seal to turn up on a beach near Dunedin and it was probably one of about five in the last decade.
The animal had been dead in the water for quite some time and was quite decomposed. Doc staff and University of Otago staff and iwi will meet at the beach this morning to discuss what the best options were, Mr Agnew said.
