A sea lion pup decided to see how the humans live over the weekend, left his home in the water, and was found wandering down the Pacific Coast Highway in Mendocino County, California.
The sea lion was extremely friendly, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department, which found the pup wandering around early Sunday. Deputies who rescued him said he rubbed against their legs and even posed for photos.
The little fella was lucky to be noticed and taken back to his home in the ocean, authorities said:
“Due to the darkness and the dense fog the animal was very difficult to see and would have certainly been struck by a vehicle if the deputies had not stopped.”
The sea lion pup was about 30 inches long and weighed in at 20 pounds. After finding him, deputies called the Marine Mammal Center and gave the organization the information on a tag the sea lion had. As it turned out, he had been rescued before and had even been tagged by his rescuers so he could be tracked.
Next, the deputies put the pup into the back of their cruiser and escorted him home, even going so far as to make sure he was wearing his seat belt for safety. As you can see in the photo, there are few things cuter than a sea lion buckled up for a ride.
Sea lions have become increasingly imperiled in recent years as their food supply–mostly sardines–have begun to disappear from California waters.?The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ?reports that more than 1,000 California sea lion pups and yearlings have been found stranded in March of this year?alone. That compares to less than 200 in the same period in 2014.
