The livestreams have gone dark, but the search has not. The Golden Coast beach in Changhai county of Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning province, has grown quieter in recent weeks — not because people have stopped caring, but because there is little left to film except the sea. The question everyone keeps asking: Where is Nana?
Barely two months ago, the beach was swamped with cameras trained on a single subject: a rescued spotted seal named Nana. Some visitors set up livestreams along the shoreline, hoping to catch more than a glimpse of the playful animal.
Nana, who is estimated to be about 2 years old, quickly became an internet sensation, with video clips showing him swimming up to visitors and rubbing his head against their legs. Every time someone called his name, he would raise his head and eagerly snap up the small fish tossed to him. His favorite spot was a giant yellow inflatable shaped like a duck, where he would often bask in the sun.
Nana's last confirmed sighting at Golden Coast was on Oct 18. After playing near the shore for a while, he slipped into the waters to hunt for fish and disappeared.
The spotted seal is a first-class nationally protected animal in China and the only pinniped species that breeds in Chinese waters.
Tian Jiashen, an expert at the Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute, said these marine mammals migrate in winter from the North Pacific to a Bohai Sea bay area near Dalian to breed and rest.
Nana might join other migrating seals and leave Golden Coast for good. But Tian, who has worked in seal conservation for nearly a decade, said he is reluctant to predict what will happen, because Nana has surprised him before.
In 2024, a typhoon separated Nana from his pod. He was found off Beihai, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, injured and resting on a floating foam board.
After his rescue and more than a year of rehabilitation, Nana was transferred to the research center where Tian works. In April this year, Nana completed a program preparing him for life in the wild and was released into the sea with several other rescued seals. But instead of swimming away, he stayed near Golden Coast and became a local celebrity.
"Nana was just like a child," said Zhang Chunlong, deputy director of the marine development bureau in Changhai county. "He would catch a fish but not eat it right away. Instead, he would carry it around in his mouth, let it go and catch another one, as if to show off his hunting skills."
As summer brought more tourists to the beach, local authorities kept reminding visitors to keep a distance.
In September, officials moved Nana to waters around islands about 60 kilometers away, along a spotted seal migratory route. But just six days later, he was back at Golden Coast.
For Tian, the research institute expert, the public's fascination with Nana raised a serious concern. "Even during the rescue and rehabilitation period, Nana was noticeably more attached to human company than the other seals," he said, adding that of the more than 200 seals he has helped rescue, Nana was the first to display such behavior.
Researchers found that Nana had briefly stopped at other locations before returning to Golden Coast. As people there paid little attention to him, he swam away. But at Golden Coast, visitors gathered to film him, pet him and feed him.
"We cannot interact with seals as we would with other humans. Nana is indeed adorable, but he belongs to the sea and his seal family," Tian said.
"It is hard to let go," Tian said, "but our responsibility is to rescue and rehabilitate seals. We cannot keep them with us forever just because we have grown fond of them. That would defeat the very purpose of our job."
Zhang Xiaomin in Dalian contributed to this story.
