Wayward Sea Lion Was Shark's Snack

Sharks have to eat, too

Don't blame Raider-nation for mucking up the traffic in Oakland Monday, blame a wayward sea lion.

Animal rescue crews sped to the aid of the wounded animal, which made its way onto the shoulder of northbound 880 in Oakland Monday morning.

The animal was taken to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, where vets discovered he had been the target of a shark. His injuries were too severe to overcome so vets had to euthanize the animal.

Vets at first thought he had been struck by a boat propeller, then swam about a mile inland, looking for a quiet place to rest. The animal crawled out of a slough with large gashes on its lower backside.

The CHP says an officer spotted the sea lion during a traffic stop on 880 just after 9 a.m., just north of the Coliseum.  The animal appeared weak, and barely able to raise its head enough to scan the tv crews waiting nearby. At one point, the sea lion managed to crawl back into the water, but then turned around and pulled itself back onto shore.

Lincoln Shaw, of the Mammal Center, used a massive fishing net and tossed it over the sea lion, which flew into a rage and battled to escape. Shaw and his team corralled the injured animal into a carrier. Shaw said the animal put up a good fight when he was trying to wrangle him into the the carrier.

The sea lion weighed between 150 and 200 pounds and was about five feet long.
    
This is not the first time a sea lion has been spotted in the area and become a traffic hazard.

Before leaving for the center, Shaw polled the news crews for a name. Somehow the name, "880 Ice Plant" emerged, after the thicket of ice plant where it was resting. Let's hope the vets have better luck saving him, than news crews had naming him.  


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