Young sea lion rescued near Bay Area highway ramp, sent for treatment

A malnourished young California sea lion headed toward the Highway 101 ramp near Sierra Point Parkway in Brisbane on May 9, forcing police and marine mammal rescuers to stop traffic and move fast before the animal could reach the freeway. An off-duty Brisbane police officer used his personal vehicle to slow drivers while officers secured the area, then The Marine Mammal Center took over and sent the pup for treatment and rehabilitation.

The Brisbane rescue came just weeks after another California sea lion pup turned up far from the surf in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset neighborhood. On April 16, trained responders from The Marine Mammal Center, San Francisco Police Department officers and San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department rangers worked together near 48th Avenue and Irving Street, about one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park, to corral the pup and transport it to the center’s Sausalito facility for evaluation. Officials later said the animal, nicknamed Irving, was believed to be about 10 months old, malnourished but active and quite feisty. Its sex, long-term prognosis and release timeline had not yet been determined.

Taken together, the cases show how often young marine mammals are ending up in places where pavement, traffic and people replace sand and seawater. In January, another pup nicknamed Babymac was found in a Mountain View parking lot and taken to The Marine Mammal Center. In July 2025, a young sea lion wandered onto a San Rafael street and was treated for a bacterial infection. In 2019, a baby sea lion was rescued from Highway 101 in South San Francisco. Each episode required a rapid response to keep motorists safe and prevent the animal from being hit, trapped or pushed farther inland.

The repeated rescues also point to strain on the coastal system that normally keeps these animals offshore. Malnutrition, illness and disorientation can all send young sea lions into urban corridors, parking lots and highway ramps, where they face starvation, injury and exhaustion before they ever reach open water. For the region’s rescuers, that means more coordination, more rehabilitation space and more encounters where human traffic control becomes part of wildlife protection.