Baby seal mysteriously found 3km away from ocean at farm in Australia

A baby seal was found almost 3 miles away from its home in the ocean at a farm in South Australia on Thursday. The seal was found by a farmer named Ty Kayden among wheat crop near Cowell on the Eyre Peninsula.

Kayden's family have been farmers in the area for over 60 years, and this was the first time that a seal managed to travel this far to his farm in the region.

He received a call from his neighbour on Thursday informing him about the seal. "He said, 'you have to come and have a look at this'. I thought he said a baby cow is in my driveway. He goes, no, it's a baby seal," Kayden told The Guardian.

"Three kilometres is a long way from the ocean – it's a small two-wheel track to the beach. I have no idea how it got there or what it had been doing," he added.

He further stated that the seal looked skinny and was in fact lucky to be alive since there were many foxes in the area. Since the farmers did not know what to do with it, they released it back into the ocean.

Initially, the seal was reluctant to go but a little nudge from Kayden helped it get back on its feet and take off in the ocean. "We got a towel and just dropped it over its head and scooped it up and put it in a tub in the back of the ute. Hopefully it's had a big feed of king whiting and is looking a bit fatter," Kayden said.

Seals are marine mammals and are found along most coasts and cold waters, but a majority of them live in the Arctic and Antarctic waters, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The Australian sea lion and Australian fur seals are the only species found around Australia's mainland and nearshore islands. Human activity coupled with climate factors have led to a decline in their population.