The seal has been spotted in Docklands and near Hoddle Bridge.<\/em><\/p>\nThe name \u201cSalvatore\u201d came to be associated with seals seen in Melbourne\u2019s rivers after a large male Australian fur seal was rescued when it became entangled in box tape in the Maribyrnong River in 2015.<\/p>\n
Mark Keenan, from Zoos Victoria\u2019s marine response unit, said Salvatore the First bore particular deep scars on his neck from that entanglement that made him easily identifiable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe caught that animal and brought it into the zoo, removed the entanglement, and released the animal at Werribee South,\u201d Keenan said. He was unsure who in the wildlife community first called this seal Salvatore, but the name stuck.<\/p>\n
Salvatore the First was regularly seen in Melbourne\u2019s river systems for a couple of years after his rescue, getting very strong and fat thanks to being the only large predator in the waterways, before disappearing around 2019.<\/p>\n
The seal that appeared in the Yarra during Covid lockdowns was a different one, but bore many similarities to Salvatore the First. Along with inheriting the name of his predecessor, Salvatore the Second was also an enormous adult male fur seal.<\/p>\n
Seals are independent foragers and can thrive in rivers where there is little competition for food, said Keenan, and there have been unconfirmed reports of seals travelling as far up the Yarra as Healesville.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur biggest concern when we see seals in river systems is that obviously they tend to be highly populated and there are lots of risk factors that otherwise aren\u2019t necessarily present in the ocean, including litter and boat traffic,\u201d Keenan said.<\/p>\n
Male Australian fur seals usually live for about 10 years. The seal seen this week is unlikely to be either of the previously observed individuals, but that hasn\u2019t stopped people finding joy in Salvatore the Third.<\/p>\n
Short videos of the seal captured by Malik and Harrison this week were reshared by @seally_friend, an Instagram account devoted to collating the exploits of Melbourne\u2019s river seal.<\/p>\n
Tessa McDonnell, a Melbourne tattoo artist who began the @seally_friend account in 2021, told Guardian Australia she had often wondered whether sightings of Salvatore would bring people the same level of elation outside lockdown, but said her inbox had been \u201cgoing bananas\u201d since resharing the videos.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way people respond to his sighting is amazing,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cWhen we were all confined to our homes and had little to focus on, the magical sighting was the escape everyone needed. Now we all have all shifted back into a sense of normalcy, the sighting of the seal perhaps harkens back to a time we had all sort of forgotten about, a bright star in a dark time.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article<\/a> by Stephanie Convery was first published by The Guardian on 27 August 2025. Lead Image: A seal spotted in Collingwood in Melbourne in 2024. Recent seal sightings have sparked excitement in the city and interest on social media. Photograph: Simon Griffiths.<\/i><\/p>\nHelp to protect wildlife<\/h2>\n
Help to protect wildlife by donating as little as $5 – it only takes a minute!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n