Hockey sticks fail to stop sea lion swimming in human pool

Staff at a public pool in New Zealand faced a difficult swimmer who forced everyone else out of the water this afternoon.

In front of a giggling crowd of entertained children, two men struggled — and failed — to wrangle a sea lion that had invaded the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool.

Video uploaded online by one spectator shows hockey sticks and a temporary fence being used in futile attempts to block the young seal as it tried to leave the wading pool to do some laps.

The 1.5m female sea lion seems unbothered as it fights against the makeshift barrier that it eventually beats to dive into the big pool.

"She waddled right through reception and went into the pool," the pool's supervisor, Paul Swanson, told the New Zealand Herald.

"(The swimmers) are loving it ... there's going to be hundreds of pictures online."

About 100 swimmers were made to get out of the water until conservation workers managed to move the sea lion on.