---
title: "Looking for an arf-price sale? Meet Santa the seal who went Christmas shopping"
description: "An unusual customer joins crowds heading for a Cape Town mall to go bargain hunting."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "UNUSUAL VISITOR"
author: "Don Pinnock"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/donpinnock/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-12-21-looking-for-an-arf-price-sale-santa-the-seal-goes-christmas-shopping/"
published: "2022-12-21T13:05:17"
updated: "2022-12-21T14:14:46"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 244
---

# Looking for an arf-price sale? Meet Santa the seal who went Christmas shopping

> An unusual customer joins crowds heading for a Cape Town mall to go bargain hunting.

By Don Pinnock · Published 21 December 2022, 15:05 SAST · Updated 21 December 2022, 16:14 SAST

## Key points
- NSPCA inspectors received an odd callout on Wednesday when a female Cape fur seal was spotted crossing a busy road in Cape Town
- Metro Police were on the scene controlling traffic and a crowd was gathering, with onlookers nicknaming the seal Santa
- NSPCA Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse and Inspector Lwazi Ntungele acted quickly to get the animal safely into a crate for a quick health assessment
- The seal was then taken to the nearest quiet beach, where she lolloped into the water and swam off
- How she got there remains a mystery, but Pieterse speculated it had swum into a canal and been carried further inland by strong currents

## Content

SPCA inspectors get odd callouts, but the one they had on Wednesday was so weird it sounded like a prank. It wasn’t. A female Cape fur seal was crossing the busy Jakes Gerwel Drive heading for the Vangate Mall in Athlone, Cape Town.

\[video width="640" height="352" mp4="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/VIDEO-2022-12-21-11-14-01.mp4"\]\[/video\]

The Metro Police were on the scene controlling traffic and a crowd was gathering. She was soon named Santa by curious onlookers.

Was it a gimmick to sell the latest fad or had it forgotten where the sea was? Do seals do Christmas shopping?

![An unusual customer joins crowds heading for a Cape Town mall to go bargain hunting.
(Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/ROUX2BYoyblbOUq9h0w6G2yHAXA=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Don-sealshopping.jpg)

*Santa makes a stop on the way to the mall. (Photo: Supplied)*

![An unusual customer joins crowds heading for a Cape Town mall to go bargain hunting.
(Photo: Supplied)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/emhLNQLA7YN4PhIJ6pnF34Gkngc=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Don-sealshopping_3.jpg)

*Santa is released on a quiet beach. (Photo: Supplied)*

Perhaps, quipped SPCA chief inspector Jaco Pieterse who rushed to the scene, it was intended to be an unusual Christmas gift for someone’s mother-in-law and dumped when its captor saw the price of fish!

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Quite how a seal got to be there remains a mystery. Pieterse speculated it had swum into a canal and was washed further inland by strong currents.

He and Inspector Lwazi Ntungele, experienced in the ways of fur seals, acted quickly to get the animal safely into a crate before a quick health assessment. It was then taken to the nearest quiet beach, where she lolloped into the water and swam off with a wave of a flipper. Her Christmas shopping would just have to wait. **DM/OBP**