These rideshare fares are getting out of hand — so desperate times call for innovative measures!
The coastlines along Sonoma County are one of the most important breeding and rearing grounds for California sea lions in the Bay Area. These large sea mammals can tip the scales at over 1,000 pounds and stretch over eight feet long. They share much of their range in Sonoma County with the smaller Pacific harbor seals and much, much (much) larger northern California elephant seals.
Much like other marine pinnipeds, sea lions spend about half their time on the sand and half in the water. (They tend to forage at night and rest during the day.) But when they’re not catching up on some REM cycles, sometimes they get into mischief.
10/19/22 – This morning in Jenner, a Sea Lion got out of the water, climbed onto a states park car, and marine wildlife rescue came and picked it up for evaluation prior to relocation.
Photo by KC Anicca pic.twitter.com/f6vgHWZkFZ
— Sonoma County Scanner Updates (@SonomaScanner) October 19, 2022
Case in point: One sea lion recently decided to climb on the roof of a CA State Parks cruiser at Blind Beach. Where they wanted to go remains a mystery.
“[Wednesday] morning in Jenner, a Sea Lion got out of the water, climbed onto a state park car, and marine wildlife rescue came and picked it up for evaluation prior to relocation,” reads a tweet from the Sonoma County Scanner account.
Seeing these wild animals outside of their natural habitat could mean they're not well, so please keep a safe distance and call our rescue hotline at 415-289-7325. This sea lion, named Bushes, was rescued by our trained team – updates can be found at https://t.co/IJBG92kKlt.
— The Marine Mammal Center (@TMMC) October 20, 2022
Named “Bushes,” this young sea lion is now in the care of The Marine Mammal Center — becoming one of 1,200 animals the center rehabilitates, annually. While updates have yet to be published on Bushes’ condition, the education and rescue center notes that “common reasons” young sea lions are stranded or act in usual ways include “domoic acid toxicosis, cancer, entanglement, malnutrition, and leptospirosis.”
Here’s hoping Bushes has a speedy recovery and can get reintroduced back into their natural habitat… sans any more attempts ride-hitching attempts.
Feature Image: Courtesy of Twitter via @SonomaScanner/KC Anicca
Matt, I love your articles!