Wandering sea lion takes a walk on Washington highway and blocks cars, photos show

When driving on a Washington highway, you could encounter a number of animals along the way — but a sea lion usually isn’t one of them.

A couple of drivers had to stop for a sea lion on SR 4 near Hull Creek Road in Wahkiakum County on Wednesday morning, according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Chelsea Hodgson. Hodgson tweeted the sea lion “got a little lost” with photos showing it plopped squarely on the road.

“It’s understandable considering all the extra water everywhere!” Hodgson said. “You never know what — or in this case who — could be around the next corner.”

Capt. Dan Chadwick, an officer for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife law enforcement program, said the male sea lion was about 100 yards from Grays River when officials arrived. It likely got to the roadway from Hull Creek, which empties into Grays River, Chadwick said during a phone interview.

The area was experiencing flooding conditions at the time, which is potentially why the sea lion got lost on land, according to Chadwick. It’s nearly an annual occurrence for a stray sea lion to wander on land and “hang out,” Chadwick said.

There were no incidents reported involving the sea lion, Hodgson told McClatchy News in an email. But wildlife officials have struggled to get the sea lion to go back to the river, Chadwick said.

When wildlife officials arrived, the sea lion had stopped in a blackberry patch near a cow pasture about 70 yards from the river, according to Chadwick. When they’re that close to the river, officials will try to herd the animal back to its home, Chadwick said.

“It’s a little interesting walking a sea lion,” Chadwick told McClatchy News.

Officials couldn’t get the sea lion closer than 20 yards from the river, so they left it hoping it would find its own way back, according to Chadwick. But the next day, the sea lion had wandered back to the blackberry patch and as of Thursday night, was still hanging out in the creek, Chadwick said.

After coaxing the stubborn sea lion down a culvert Friday afternoon, it safely swam back out into the river, Chadwick told McClatchy. a biologist told Chadwick that Steller sea lions are characteristically stubborn.

Rebecca Bennett, a spokesperson for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, confirmed the animal was a Steller sea lion, the largest of the “eared-seals” family, which includes all sea lions and fur seals, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. They’re usually found near Alaska and along the West Coast, NOAA says.

Steller sea lions can weigh 800 to 2,500 pounds and grow as long as 11 feet, according to NOAA.

Sea lions and seals are pinnipeds, meaning “fin footed” in Latin, but there are some physical distinctions between them, NOAA says. Seals have furry and “generally stubby” front flippers, while sea lions have “skin-covered, elongated fore flippers,” according to NOAA.

Sea lions also have “small flaps for outer ears,” NOAA says. Seals don’t have “external ears” at all, just “tiny holes on the sides of a seal’s sleek head,” according to NOAA.

Sea lions are also able to “walk on land,” NOAA says, much like the animal in Hodgson’s photos. They are also considered more social than seals, who tend to “lead solitary lives in the wild, coming ashore together only once a year,” according to NOAA.

This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Wandering sea lion takes a walk on Washington highway and blocks cars, photos show."