Sea lion wanders onto San Francisco area freeway
Sudhin Thanawala
Associated Press
06/22/2009
SAN FRANCISCO—A baby sea lion was rescued early Monday after wandering onto a busy San Francisco Bay area freeway.
More than a dozen drivers on Interstate 880 started calling authorities around 5:45 a.m. to report the animal "walking" in the center divider near the Oakland Coliseum, said Peter Van Eckhardt, an officer with the California Highway Patrol.
He said the sea lion probably made it onto land from a San Francisco Bay estuary near the stadium and crossed the roadway some time in the middle of the night.
Van Eckhardt says the animals do wander onto Bay area roadways from time to time. A male sea lion was found waddling on a busy street in Richmond in May, but died from malnourishment.
"It definitely happens on occasion," Van Eckhardt said. "This is pretty off the beaten path for them to come in this far."
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 center, Van Eckhardt said.
Several officers later tried to get the animal, nicknamed "Fruitvale" for the Oakland neighborhood where it was found, into a cage, but it jumped underneath the patrol car. It was eventually rounded up and taken to The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, where spokesman Jim Oswald 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."
Veterinarians wanted to give the animal a chance to rest and plan to undertake a more thorough medical evaluation Tuesday, Oswald said.
