Sea lion resting after being rescued from 880
June 22, 2009
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OAKLAND — A sea lion that was rescued after wandering onto Interstate Highway 880 in Oakland early this morning is resting this afternoon at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito
Center spokesman Jim Oswald said the sea lion, nicknamed "Fruitvale" by its rescuers after the neighborhood near where it was found, is alert and active, if slightly underweight.
"We're kind of giving him some space," Oswald said, acknowledging he didn't know for sure yet whether Fruitvale is male or female.
The sea lion was picked up by Oakland police this morning after being spotted around 5:45 a.m. waddling south in the I-880 center divide, south of Park Street.
Oswald said he heard that police had tried to block the sea lion's path with a patrol car.
"I'm told that one of them opened the door to the police car and little Fruitvale just jumped right in," he said.
Fruitvale, who is about a year old, is now one of 83 sea lions and 125 animals total at the Marine Mammal Center.
Oswald said Fruitvale looked relatively healthy but that a number of sickened sea lions have been found recently on California shores, particularly in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
"They're malnourished," he said. "Something has happened to the food sources."
Oswald said sea lions subsist largely off anchovies, sardines and herrings, and that it's not clear what's causing the food sources to dwindle.
"These little guys are definitely telling us something about the health of the ocean," he said.
It's also unclear exactly how Fruitvale ended up in Oakland, although Oswald guessed the sea lion was either seeking food or was weakened and got lost.
"It's common for marine mammals to swim up tributaries and rivers to look for food," he said.
Sea lions have turned up in a number of unlikely spots in the Bay Area, notably in February 2004 when "Chippy," a 315-pound sea lion waddled onto a road in Los Banos after swimming up the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
"Chippy" earned his nickname by hopping onto the trunk of a California Highway Patrol car during an effort to corral him. He was released back into the ocean after a stay at the Marine Mammal Center.
If all goes well, Fruitvale will likely be released soon too, Oswald said.
The Marine Mammal Center, which reopened June 15 after a major renovation, is always looking for donations and volunteers, Oswald said.
The center has received 1,272 rescue calls in the first 15 days of June, compared to 530 for the entire month of June last year, Oswald said.
Of the 1,272 calls for the first half of this month, 315 were for sea lions, he said. The center also has facilities in Monterey and Morro Bay.
- Bay City News
