The last of Marineland's seals are today leaving the ageing Napier facility to spend their remaining years in Australia.
New Zealand fur seals Molly, Mr Bo and Pania are off to zoos in Australia.
Molly and Mr BoJangles are going to Sea World on the Gold Coast, and Pania to Melbourne Zoo.
Their departure follows those of their colleagues, Californian sea lions Dakota and Orion, New Zealand fur seals Iha and Ollie, and sub-antarctic fur seal Mako who were flown across the ditch in December.
Iha is at Melbourne Zoo; Ollie at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, and Orion and Mako are at Sea World.
Dakota, who was ten, sadly died at Sea World, in January.
Tuesday will see the three remaining seals will each be put in their own crate for a trip by truck to Auckland in the afternoon, then flown to Australia on Wednesday.
They were unable to travel with the other seals last year because Sea World had commitments to other animal imports, and Melbourne Zoo can only quarantine one animal at a time.
Senior keeper Regan Beckett, who had been present at the birth of 11-year-old Mr BoJangles, said he was happy the animals were going to quality homes.
"It's not actually 'goodbye'. It's 'we'll see you again'," he said.
"Australia's obviously not that far away. Obviously none of the staff are too happy about it, to say goodbye, however we're happy they're going to quality homes. It's a bittersweet ending for us," he said.
Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said Marineland had been "a great facility for tourism for Napier" and "the challenge now of course is to replace it with an equally attractive facility".
The seals have been under quarantine since 2014.
After arrival in Australia they have to go through an Australian quarantine period of 30 days before they can join the zoo populations.
The flights will cost the council $47,000.
Marineland closed in 2008. The departure of the last animals means Napier City Council can progress a planned $5.7 million redevelopment of Marine Parade, including a skate park below the Marineland grandstand, which is being retained, a reef garden and a tiered amphitheatre.
