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Owha the leopard seal has been the target of some unwanted attention which is why an Otago University student wants to better understand human-leopard seal interactions in New Zealand.
Giverny Forbes hopes to have her masters thesis completed by the end of the year but is still looking for people who have encountered Owha to help her with her research.
Owha is well known in Auckland, having made herself at home in the Waitemata Harbour for a number of years, often sleeping in marinas and on pontoons.
Forbes wants to get a better picture of Owha's behaviour, which has sometimes got her into trouble. It was reported last year Owha was shot in the face with a projectile fired from a rifle and earlier this year a threat was made against her after she allegedly popped an inflatable dinghy, causing it to sink.
Anyone who has had an interaction with a leopard seal is invited to fill out this form and might be contacted for an interview.
This research aims to understand the public’s opinions of leopard seals and the potential dangers the public and the seals pose to each other, as well as to inform better management of leopard seals in this country.
Forbes has been working alongside LeopardSeals.org since 2016 and helped to monitor Owha since her arrival to Auckland and Northland.
Owha has been residing in New Zealand waters since at least 2012, when she was photographed off the coast of Dunedin.
Since then she travelled north and was first recorded off the coast of Northland at Ruakaka in June 2015 and was named by Ngati Whatua ki Orakei after she spent more than a year in their home waters.
