Wayward seal surprises boys fishing on Montreal's South Shore in Kahnawake

Three boys out fishing on the South Shore of the Saint Lawrence River spotted a seal on Sunday morning, more than 1,000 kilometres from its natural habitat.

Roy Lahache is from the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake, and he was out with his friends fishing in the seaway, which runs parallel to the river when what appeared to be a harbour seal surfaced behind the St. Francis Xavier Mission Catholic Church in the community.

"There was a huge bass, and then out of nowhere, I saw something poke its head out of the water," said Lahache. "When we got closer, we noticed it was a seal."

The 13-year-old and his friends fish regularly in the area and have never seen anything like this before.

The boys ran along the shoreline, following the seal for several metres, but the seal went underwater and they lost it.

"It was crazy," said Lahache. "It was super crazy."

In August, seals tend to live in the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence, past the Gaspe Peninsula and closer to the Atlantic Ocean.

The seal is one of many visitors that have found their way off course and turned up in the Montreal area.

A small hooded seal popped up in Montreal in August 2020 and a bearded seal was spotted in Laval in June of that year.

A humpback whale became a sensation in the spring of 2020 as well, and in May of this year, two minke whales were spotted in Montreal.

The three whales all died before returning to their natural habitats.