Sea lion on B.C. highway gets police escort back to safety

A wayward California sea lion who stopped traffic on the Pacific Rim Highway east of Tofino, B.C., on Vancouver Island has found its way back to safety thanks to a special police escort.

Ucluelet RCMP Const. Mark Macdonnell said when he was sent out Sunday morning to a report of a sea lion on the highway nearly 10 kilometres inland from the ocean, he was skeptical he would find anything.

“It was definitely not something that I thought was actually going to be there. I thought I’d drive down the road, see nothing, and turn around. But then I came around the corner, and all of a sudden, there’s this big sea lion in the middle of the road,” said Macdonnell. 

The male sea lion weighing an estimated 150 kilograms was first reported by an eagle-eyed driver during the dark morning hours, according to DFO marine mammal co-ordinator Paul Cottrell, 

“They spotted what they thought was a bear initially. And then [they saw] it was a sea lion… And they did the right thing. They called us right away,” said Cottrell. “This animal is definitely out of habitat in this really odd area.”

Macdonnell said he found the sea lion in a particularly dangerous location where the highway curves and has a steep embankment on one side leading down to Kennedy Lake.

“I provided traffic control just so that vehicles coming around the corner could see that there was some type of incident and would slow down. Then I reached out to Parks Canada, and one of their wardens came and assisted me,” he said.

Over the next 90 minutes, Macdonnell, the warden and two highway maintenance workers gently herded the animal 500 metres down the road to a lower section of highway, where it re-entered the lake and swam away. 

“It was kind of startled because all these vehicles are driving by, and now people are stopping. So it might have been confused as to what to do,” he said. “So as it walked down the road, we’d back up a vehicle and block it from going back up the road.”

Cottrell believes the sea lion likely climbed onto the highway after swimming quite a long distance from the ocean up the Kennedy River, into Staghorn Creek and eventually into Kennedy Lake. 

“The animal is back in the lake safe right now, and we’re hoping that it can find its way out and back into the ocean.  At least it’s a lot safer than being on the highway,” said Cottrell.

This isn’t the first case of a pinniped turning up far from its usual home. 

Seals have been spotted along Highway 99 in Metro Vancouver, according to Cottrel. And a few years ago, a very large sea lion nicknamed “James Pond” had to be tranquillized and moved from the Pender Harbour pond and yard it had taken up residence in.

“They maybe follow fish up the river and just keep going and then get disoriented and realize, wow, I’m in trouble here. And then they try to find their way back,” said Cottrell. “But [the Kennedy Lake] one … I would say is one of the most unique in terms of the distance from the ocean, for sure.”

Anyone who spots an injured, stranded or distressed marine animal is encouraged to report it to the B.C. Marine Animal Response Network 24-hour hotline at 1-800 465-4336.

“We can mobilize our expert teams quickly and get the right people in place to ensure the safety of the animals,” said Cottrell. 

“If the driver didn’t call [the sea lion] in, almost certainly that animal likely would have been struck, which would have been a really bad situation for the animal and, of course, for the people in the vehicle.”