The sea lion rescued from a San Diego highway this morning has been found frequenting unusual locations before on several occasions.
A juvenile male sea lion was spotted at approximately 9:40am on the morning of January 7, 2022, at the intersection of California State Route 94 and Route 15 in the Fairmount Park neighborhood near downtown San Diego. After samaritans halted traffic and assisted in removing the sea lion from the roadway, the 200 pound marine creature was then picked up by the SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team, who reported that it was not the first time saving this particular animal.
"We don’t know exactly how he got here but this animal has been in our rescue facility before," stated SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team member Eric Ojten. "He was rescued in early November from Harbor Island Drive and was released shortly after and has been showing up in kind of odd situations and spots since then. This is the weirdest, though."
When the sea lion was found on Harbor Island Drive near the San Diego Airport last November, it spent around a week in SeaWorld San Diego's care before being released back into the ocean. The very next month, the same sea lion was sighted on the boardwalk in Mission Beach, then found near a deli in Mission Bay, and again seen on the Navy base in the Point Loma neighborhood.
Besides a small injury on the sea lion's nose, the animal remains in good and healthy condition. Nobody has any idea how the creature got this far inland and made its way up the freeway. The sea lion remains in SeaWorld's custody.
