IT’S COMMON ENOUGH in Howth Harbour to spot the odd seal swimming around on the hunt for a bit of grub from passersby.

And it looks like their tactics are being taken to the next innovative level.

Simon McGarr, of McGarr Solicitors, was walking along the pier with his family yesterday when he came across a particularly entrepreneurial seal.

If you throw him a bit of fish, he’ll wave back at you

In Howth, there is a seal who will wave at you if you throw him a fish. pic.twitter.com/dv3zVVpFX0

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) July 30, 2017

If you can’t see the video, click here. 

Well played.

This isn’t just a once off, as Simon tells DailyEdge.ie that the waving had happened a few times before he got the phone out to record it: 

 Three or four times – yes, after fish – there was a man there who was cutting him chunks with a penknife and throwing them to him. We came along near the end of the fish.

He says there were four seals around in total, but this was the only one that was waving at people in exchange for food.

Surely such a trickster has been spotted before?

Back in 2011, a photographer captured “Cheery Charlie” waving at people in Howth – and it was picked up by The Daily Mail

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Could this still be Charlie, working his flippers for food? Looks likely.

Other seals have come to local attention for hanging around trawlers looking for fish… but video evidence of a waving Charlie is a rare find

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Sammy The Howth Harbour Seal has his own Faceboook page – but waving antics don’t appear to be part of his repertoire.

The seal yesterday has an identifying feature, as Simon recalls:

He has a healed wound over his right ear, which the man with the fish says he got a while back when he got a bash off a boat.

So it’s one to keep an eye out for if you’re ever in the harbour area

Good luck to you Charlie.

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