Sammy the Seal
My quirky mural of Sammy the Seal, painted in 2022, completed my trilogy of distinctive circular-design murals on the East Pier - alongside my tributes to The Seahorse and my restoration of Breffni Carroll's Book of Kells-like painting.
I painted Sammy in response to several requests from children passing by on the pier while I was working. Sammy's happy-face portrayal is a great attraction to children and adults alike.
Most Wicklowites are familiar with the story of Sammy the Seal's exploits along the South Quay as he frequently rocked up for a fish meal by the Fishman shop.
Below is a transcript of an interview with Alan Hegarty of the Fishman shop & the-then Lighthouse restaurant in May 2016. [Source: visitwicklow.ie]
“Sammy arrived in 2012 when we opened the fish shop and he has actually trained me into feeding him 3 times a day at 9 o’clock, 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock.
At high tide he would jump out of the water on to the footpath. Since we’ve opened the restaurant, that has become a regular occurrence and it does not have to be high water, it can be 3 feet from the water’s edge and he will still jump.
We approached the Seal Sanctuary and asked them to help us train Sammy to stay in the water. They gave us some tips and we now have a herding board that we lean up against Sammy and he realises that’s a negative thing and he will stay in the water. He is not getting up as much.
He is a wild animal and he is an aggressive animal as all grey seals are. The problem is that he could be injured. Although it is really good for business, I don’t want it to be at that expense. He could also snap at people. People have the tendency to think he might be tamed , but he is not tamed. He is a wild animal and he is an aggressive animal as all grey seals are.
So I have asked people not to feed him and to keep their distance. At the end of the day, he is a wild animal and we want him to remain that way.
Sammy has done wonderful things for Wicklow. We have had a video online on Youtube that has had 20.000 hits all around the world, which features Wicklow Town.
We find that we are getting tourists coming down that would normally pass us by. They are getting off the ferry and coming down to see Sammy the seal: Italians, Americans, some from England and even some people from the midlands are coming to see him. He is bit of an attraction and hopefully he will be Wicklow’s Fungi.”
Alas, Sammy has not visited the harbour for some time now and it is assumed that he may have passed on to better fish delights in the heavenly seas. A new seal visitor has rocked up by the Fishman shop in recent times - perhaps Sammy's cousin?
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