Sea Lion Found In Irvine Channel Returned To Open Water
Published: August 11, 2005
A sea lion that traveled nearly six miles up a water channel to Irvine — an Orange County record — was released back into the wild Wednesday afternoon and immediately swam out to sea, officials said.
The 195-pound, 4-year-old mammal, dubbed “Irvine,” left Laguna Beach’s Pacific Marine Mammal Center about 11:45 a.m. for the trip to Dana Point Harbor.
She was loaded — while in a cage — onto a Harbor Patrol vessel for the half-mile trip to a buoy out near a kelp bed where sea lions congregate, said Dean Gomersall, an animal care supervisor.
But instead of hanging around with the other sea lions, “she decided she didn’t want to be social right away and headed straight out to sea,” Gomersall said.
“Most of the time when we release them here, they at least go over and investigate for a little while,” Gomersall told reporters who rode the boat out to the buoy. “Sometimes they jump on, but nope, she decided she wants to go out.”
The animal, which had not eaten since being brought Thursday to the center, was last seen heading in a southwest direction, he said.
The sea lion was captured in a channel near Harvard Avenue, not far from the San Diego (405) Freeway, where she was spotted by drivers, said center director Michele Hunter.
The sea lion evidently followed a trail of fish up the San Diego Creek Channel, entering off the Newport Beach coast, and could not find her way out.
The trip set an Orange County record for lost sea lions, outdistancing the journey of a sea lion that reached the UC Irvine campus 10 years ago.
“This is the farthest inland we’ve ever picked up a sea lion,” Hunter said.
Hunter had said the sea lion would be released quickly if she rejected dead fish and stopped taking in nourishment, which apparently turned out to be the case.
She said the animal was cranky through the weekend, barking and refusing the dead herring that she was served for dinner, nor was her mood settled by the introduction of a young male sea lion into her pen.
“She crawled over and looked kind of irritated,” Hunter said.
The sea lion was treated for worms and parasites while at the center and is in good health, Gomersall said.
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