WATCH ABOVE: Keith Yip speaks to media about the rescue.
SAN DIEGO – A giant sea lion impaled by a homemade spear is recovering at SeaWorld after being rescued just off the Southern California coast.
Local media reported that a team spent much of Tuesday searching Channel Islands Harbour before spotting the injured male sea lion that has been nicknamed ‘Bubba’.
“Yeah, this was very deliberate, very intentional,” Keith Yip, curator of mammals at SeaWorld San Diego, said. “And, yeah, I don’t know what they would use this type of tool for, but, obviously, it’s very effective for impaling things.”
Rescuers managed to hit the animal with tranquilizer darts and drag him ashore in a net.
“When he actually came back (close to shore) and we were able to rescue him, that was the earliest he’d ever come back in the evening. So, actually everything kind of aligned, and we were able to do it successfully,” Yip added.
He’s estimated to weigh more than 600 pounds (272 kilogrammes).
Harming a sea lion is a federal offence.
Keith Yip, curator of mammals at SeaWorld San Diego said Bubba is expected to return to the ocean after recovering.
“We got him in a nice area with a companion animal, and what we’ll have to determine is his hydration level, and whether or not he has an infection. This went pretty deep. And we don’t know whether it penetrated the abdominal wall, that will be an important part of this. And what we’ll have to do is, make sure his wound heals, and we treat any infection, and, I think, due to his robust nature, and the fact that it was a pretty fresh wound, I think he stands a pretty good chance and we hope to be able to return him to the wild as soon as he is recovered.”
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