Elephant seal repeatedly tries to cross California highway (update see reply #27)
Last edited Tue Dec 29, 2015, 08:10 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wildlife experts and law enforcement officials are working to keep a determined elephant seal off a Northern California highway that it has repeatedly tried to cross, slowing traffic in the area.
California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Andrew Barclay says callers first reported the 500-pound mammal was trying to climb the divider wall of Highway 37 near Sears Point in Sonoma.
He says U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crews and CHP officers managed to usher the adult seal back into the San Francisco Bay. But instead of swimming away, the animal got back on land at least twice.
Barclay says crews with the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center and the San Pablo Bay National Marine Sanctuary are also helping with the rescue.
In this photo provided by the California Highway Patrol, wildlife experts from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito attempt to corral an elephant seal that repeatedly tried to cross a highway, slowing traffic in Sonoma, Calif., Monday, Dec. 28, 2015. CHP spokesman Officer Andrew Barclay says callers first reported the 500-pound mammal was trying to climb the divider wall of Highway 37 near Sears Point in Sonoma. He says U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crews and CHP officers managed to usher the adult seal back into the San Francisco Bay. But it got back out of the water again at least twice. (California Highway Patrol via AP)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b500833c2ad442b09e6d0fbc2f267983/elephant-seal-repeatedly-tries-cross-california-highway
= new reply since forum marked as read
All animals do things for a reason. Perhaps the better course would have been to escort him across and see where he went and why. 
But I'm not a biologist nor do I play one on television.
Sea lions often stray into inland waterways, sometimes with humorous results:
Chippy, a 315-pound adult California sea lion, traveled up the San Joaquin River channel – his journey ended when he decided to repose atop a CHP cruiser until Marine Mammal Center collected him.
My guess is that she wants to be first in line for the next race at Sears Point. 
ETA yesterday was a vacation day and almost went to Pt. Reyes -- I would have been on Hwy 37 when this drama started to unfold.
v 
What could possibly go wrong?
A 26-hour North Bay standoff with a wayward elephant seal ended Tuesday afternoon when animal experts coaxed the 900-pound beast out of the water and tranquilized it.
About 2:30 p.m., the animal swam to the north side of Highway 37 under a viaduct and emerged from the water. Once it was on solid ground, Shawn Johnson, a veterinarian for the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, ran up and stuck it with a pole-mounted tranquilizer.
Within minutes, the seal collapsed and stopped moving. Other rescuers rushed in, put the unconscious animal on a tarp and carried it to a waiting truck. Officials planned to examine it and then carted it off to Point Reyes, where it is to be released back into the wild and out of harm’s way.
http://m.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Elephant-seal-still-determined-to-cross-North-Bay-6725567.php
