A baby sea lion wandered onto a busy San Francisco Bay area freeway on Monday morning but, after a ride in the back seat of a police car, was safe and resting at a marine centre later in the day.
Drivers on Interstate 880 started calling authorities around 5:45 a.m. to report the animal "walking" in the centre divider near the Oakland Coliseum, said Peter Van Eckhardt, an officer with the California Highway Patrol.
He said the sea lion likely reached land from a nearby San Francisco Bay estuary and crossed the roadway in the middle of the night.
An Oakland police officer driving near the coliseum Monday morning loaded the small, grey-coated sea lion into the back of his patrol car and took it to an animal control centre, Van Eckhardt said.
Several officers later tried to get the animal, nicknamed "Fruitvale" for the Oakland neighbourhood where it was found, into a cage, but it jumped underneath the patrol car. The pup eventually was rounded up and taken to The Marine Mammal Centre in Sausalito, a nonprofit facility that helps sick and injured marine animals. Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the centre, said the animal is active and alert but slightly malnourished.
"I'm sure it was pretty traumatic to go through what (it) did today," Oswald said. "(It) seems to be doing fine."
No comments:
Post a Comment