The leopard seal that's making itself at home at Tauranga Bridge Marina may not be going anywhere soon, says the Department of Conservation.

Partnership ranger Tirini Ratana says the leopard seal may be having an open ended rest after up to maybe eight months at sea – or it could be moulting, something they are known to do between January and February.

The leopard seal relaxing at the marina after a sea voyage. Photo: Phil Lloyd.

Her concern is about people getting too close to and bothering a ferocious marine predator.

Leopard seals eat almost anything; krill, penguins, fish, seals, cephalopods; octopus, squid, cuttlefish – and they have been known to attack humans. A diver was killed by one in Antarctica in 2003.

The DOC website says leopard seals are the only seals known to regularly hunt and kill warm-blooded prey, including other seals.

Large adults have attacked humans. It's likely they are opportunistic in they prey on whatever is readily available.

Leopard seals are easily identified by the long slim body and comparatively large fore-flippers.

The disproportionately large head, massive jaws, impressive teeth and tremendous gape give a distinctive look to a marine predator only bothered by orca.

Leopard seals are usually solitary animals. Males are sexually mature at 3-6 years of age and females at 2-7 years. Mating has never been observed in the wild.

The Bridge Marina leopard seal is thought to be a young male. Getting close enough to those teeth to be able to tell the difference, could be a problem.

He or she is protected under Protected under the Wildlife Act and the Marine Mammals Act no matter where he or she goes, says Tirini

DOC is mandated with the leopard seal's protection and is wary and a bit sensitive about some of the publicity the visitor is attracting.

'To protect him and also manage the amount of public attention he's getting and what that means and how it increases the risk,” says Tirini.

People were coming in droves in the last few days, and then managing them down at the site that has potential to become dangerous.

'He is quite magnificent, he doesn't belong here and it is a bit of a wow factor. People won't necessarily adhere to those kinds of warnings,” says Tirini

'People are responsible for their own actions but part of our role here at DOC is to protect him from those sorts of things and prevention.”

If someone was injured the leopard seal would then be the wild animal, the beast, regardless of the stupidity of humans.

'Our work is to be able to eradicate any of that before that sort of situation is at hand. It might seem like we are over the top but it's our job to be.”

The DOC website says leopard seals are in the Antarctic during the southern Hemisphere summer, but have been known to visit Australia, New Zealand, South America and Africa in the southern winters. There's no word about travelling north in the southern summer.

'We can only assume,” says Tirini. 'Nobody knows for sure exactly why, we don't know what's happening out on that ocean. But we assume that he's stopped to moult. He will go through a moulting process and when that's done he will carry on.

'What we do know is he won't be living here at the marina, he's come here for one of those two reasons.

'We just want to give him the space to be his wild self, and he will leave when he's ready.”