A fisherman in the central Thua Thien-Hue Province caught a fur seal in a shrimp-farming lagoon Tuesday.
Hoang Van Luong, 38, said he was fishing in Tam Giang Lagoon in Huong Tra District when he found the animal stuck in the net.
The animal measures 70 cm, weighs around 25 kilograms, and is possibly an adolescent, but its sex is yet to be identified.
Nguyen Quang Vinh Binh, chief of the province’s aquatic resources agency, said the seal may be released into the sea Friday after negotiations with the fisherman, adding his department has urged locals not to catch or keep the protected animal.
The seal is being kept in a cage and attracting huge crowds of curious people.
Chu Anh Khanh, an official at the Nha Trang Oceanography Institute in Khanh Hoa Province, said climate change may have altered sea currents, bringing the semi-aquatic mammal to Vietnamese waters.
His institute will negotiate with local authorities to obtain the animal for study and care.
The fur seal is a species of pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora of which Vietnam is a signatory.
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