Wrangling wandering sea lions and elephant seals
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
As The Times noted earlier this year, pinnipeds have a way of getting themselves into some unexpected places. Above, those are two elephant seals near San Simeon, just off California 1. In a story with the unbeatable headline ‘Where Blubber Meets the Road,’ Catherine Saillant described how the elephant seals somehow worked their way onto the highway, surprising more than a few motorists.
In late June a 150-pound female sea lion found its way into a Santa Clara creek and stayed there for 10 days until it was rescued this week by police officers and volunteers from a marine life organization. The San Jose Mercury News described the sea lion rescue:
The sea lion was first sighted June 27 in the shallow water of a concrete-lined channel along the San Tomas Aquino/Saratoga Creek Trail, near the San Tomas Expressway. Monday, a half-dozen police officers herded onlookers to one side as volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito wrangled the 150-pound female sea lion from the channel into the kennel, and then onto the bed of a pickup. Jim Oswald speculated that fatigue on the part of the sea lion may have contributed to the success of her capture today. The animal appeared healthy, despite her 10-day ordeal. ‘She swam around like a bullet this morning,’ said Linn Johnson, a Marine Mammal Center volunteer who assisted in the rescue.
This sea lion swam about three miles upstream before it became trapped. In 2005 another sea lion traveled five miles up San Diego Creek in Orange County, reaching the Irvine Civic Center. That creature, a 195-pound female, was captured, nicknamed ‘Irvine’ and returned to the ocean.
But Irvine’s exploits hardly compare to the wanderings of ‘Chippy,’ a 321-pounder that swam about 100 miles up the San Joaquin River. In 2004 a farmer discovered the male sea lion lounging along a road in Merced County -- a half mile from the nearest water.
-- Steve Padilla