Maybe she just saw the sign and said "hey, *my* town!"

MorganGrayson · 08-10-2005

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Irvine the sea lion is taking a breather after swimming nearly five miles up a creek channel into the civic center.

Her journey was an Orange County distance record for wayward sea lions. Irvine the city is in Orange County, south of Los Angeles.

"This is the farthest inland we've ever picked up a sea lion," said Michele Hunter of the nonprofit Pacific Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, where Irvine was taken after her capture.

"We have seen some marine animals out in the Back Bay before," Hunter said. "They may have been following some fish or something, took the wrong turn and couldn't figure out how to get back."

Irvine, a 195-pound female, appeared on Thursday. Rescuers from the mammal center and the Irvine Fire Department used boards to coax her into a large net.

Irvine snapped and barked as she was transported to the mammal center. She remained cranky throughout the weekend, refusing herring dinners and rejecting the company of a young male sea lion that her caretakers placed in her pen.

"She really didn't want to socialize," Hunter said. "She crawled over and looked kind of irritated."

Hundreds of California sea lions have grown disoriented during the past few years after eating fish containing domoic acid, a toxin sometimes found in red tide, said Tim Hovey, assistant fisheries biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game. Irvine doesn't appear to be ill, but officials injected her with fluids as a precaution. She is scheduled to be released back into the ocean on Wednesday.

08-10-2005	#1
MorganGrayson None $100 for every ImLive sign-up Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 4,321	*Maybe she just saw the sign and said "hey, my* town!"** IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Irvine the sea lion is taking a breather after swimming nearly five miles up a creek channel into the civic center. Her journey was an Orange County distance record for wayward sea lions. Irvine the city is in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. "This is the farthest inland we've ever picked up a sea lion," said Michele Hunter of the nonprofit Pacific Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, where Irvine was taken after her capture. "We have seen some marine animals out in the Back Bay before," Hunter said. "They may have been following some fish or something, took the wrong turn and couldn't figure out how to get back." Irvine, a 195-pound female, appeared on Thursday. Rescuers from the mammal center and the Irvine Fire Department used boards to coax her into a large net. Irvine snapped and barked as she was transported to the mammal center. She remained cranky throughout the weekend, refusing herring dinners and rejecting the company of a young male sea lion that her caretakers placed in her pen. "She really didn't want to socialize," Hunter said. "She crawled over and looked kind of irritated." Hundreds of California sea lions have grown disoriented during the past few years after eating fish containing domoic acid, a toxin sometimes found in red tide, said Tim Hovey, assistant fisheries biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game. Irvine doesn't appear to be ill, but officials injected her with fluids as a precaution. She is scheduled to be released back into the ocean on Wednesday.