2/20/2004: Sea lion takes over cop car

[Undertoad]

If there are locals reading, does it seem like the sea lions on the California coast are getting more and more aggressive? This one looks mighty pissed, but perhaps he was just slammed across the trunk of that car by the man. The people carrying boards are from the Marine Mammal Center, where they eventually took this lad to serve his time in the drunk tank and settle down.

The boards themselves are called "herding boards" and I'm sure it was important to give a technical term to a piece of plywood with a handle.

[novice]

I saw this somewhere else. According to the article I read the cop pulled over to deal with the sea-lion but had the tables turned on him when it climbed onto his cruiser. ( I'm guessing the road surface may have been uncomfortably warm).
That's not just any old handled plywood. That there's marine ply.

[CharlieG]

Wouldn't it have just been easier to get going about 25 mph in reverse, and slam on the brakes? :p

"Honey, was that a flying Sea Lion I just saw?"

"It's Big, It's round, I think I'll call it the ground"........ "And the petunia just thought "Oh No, not again"

[FileNotFound]

As I looked at the picture...the only thing I could think off was:

"Huh?! Those are alloys. Since when do cops get alloys on their cars? Thats odd.."

[wolf]

Mebbe they got a really good deal on 2002 leftover Crown Vics, as equipped ...

[russotto]

Might be the regular steel wheels don't last too long in the salt air.

[Blizz]

I read that they found a bullet in this sea lion's head after they took it back to the lab. Apparantly it's not uncommon for these animals to be used for target practice. Craziness!

[hampor]

The whole story is much more bizarre.

This Sea Lion turned up in the central valley farmland after swimming up some irrigation canals. This is a LONG way from the ocean.

More info here: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science...alley.seal.ap/

When they took it to the vet they discovered that it had been shot in the head some time last week, and that this may have accounted for it's disorientation.

The animal folks said that it's very hard to catch people who shoot marine animals (I guess this has happened before)

The Sea Lion is recovering well. It hadn't lost much weight before they found it.

Just imagine being able to jump onto the trunk of car. Without legs.

[FileNotFound]

WTF would anybody want to shoot a sea lion? Thats fucked up.

Those who shoot marine animals should be happy that they're hard to catch...I'd feed them to the sea lions if I did catch them, bit by bit...

[Blizz]

No joke. I can just picture Billy Bob and his cousin/wife rolling up in their Powerwagon...

Billy Bob: Hey Suze...see them ugly fat thangs over thar?

Suze: Yup.

Billy Bob: I'm gonna shoot one-a-em.

Suze: But it looks like your mama.

Billy Bob: Quit fiddlin' with the 8 track and hand me my gun, ya bitch.

Bang.

Billy Bob: Gee whiz, that sure was fun. Now let's go tip some cows.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Stupid Sea Lion, doesn't he know those Crown Vic gas tanks blow up. He could have been raining like the whale they blew up.
Probably qualify for Federal money by naming those Herding Boards.

[Brigliadore]

Apparently the CHP named him Chippy, here is a link to an article featured on a local newspapers website.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...al/7924504.htm

The L.A. Times also reports that a $1,000 reward is being offered to anyone giving information leading to a conviction of the person that shot Chippy.

Frankly I think Ponch would have been a better name. Chippy just seems too sissy for a 300# animal.

[tw]

Originally posted by hampor
The whole story is much more bizarre.

This Sea Lion turned up in the central valley farmland after swimming up some irrigation canals. This is a LONG way from the ocean.

The movie (and book) Jaws is based to a large part on a shark attack on the Matawan Creek in NewJersey - about where mile marker 106 of the Garden State Parkway crosses that creek. That is also a significant distance inland. I had kayaked that creek some 20 years ago. My kayak was about as long as creek was wide in most places. Little did I know of the 1916 history. If anyone had told me a 12 foot shark was hiding in those waters, well, water is way too shallow, too narrow, and far too inland for sharks. So I would have thought.

View pictures of where the attack occurred. Most of the creek is like this from where we put in on Route 34 at a dam almost to where small power boats are moored near Raritan Bay.

If a large Great White could spend days in a creek like this, then why not a smaller sea lion in the Central Valley?
Creek where attack happened
Creek at high tide. Land to left gently slopes down into creek; would be very shallow here:
Another view
Looking over boats on right of this picture, out beyond those reeds is the Raritan Bay. Shark attack would have been maybe a mile behind this picture:
Creek entrance to Raritan Bay

Map demonstrates how far inland this attack was:
Map of Attack


Story is here: MATAWAN MAN-EATER

[Elspode]

Fascinating story, that. Did Peter Benchley cite this historical occurance as one of his inspirations for "Jaws"?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Must have been a dolphin.