Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Rescuing California’s highway elephant seal”.
Why did the nine hundred pound elephant seal try to cross the road? Honestly, no one knows.. There was nothing but a hay field on the other side., The female elephant seal swam up the San Francisco Bay to the San Pablo Bay and and from there up Tolay Creek, and it was around highway 37 and Sonoma County under which the creek passes that she Decided to cross the road., The seal was dubbed Tolay by rescue workers and Bathsheba after the biblical bathing beauty by local Twitter, users. We’ ll split the difference and call her Bathsheba de Tolay.. The rescue effort started on Monday December 29 when the California Highway Patrol received reports of a seal blocking a lane of traffic on Highway 37..
The elephant, seals, appearance and refusal to leave the road caused a sensation on social media. Elephant seals are relatively docile but stubborn.. Nine hundred-pound animals pretty much do what they want.. Maybe that’s what people like. She couldn’t stay.
No food, no shelter and a highway nearby., So rescue workers from the Marine Mammal Center tried to shoo her down the creek towards open water using a kayak, but she was having none of it and bit the boat.. It wasn’t clear what she was up to or why she was. There said Barbie Halaska of the Marine Mammal Center.. Perhaps she was looking for a place to give birth.
Maybe she was just confused. Late Tuesday, around 2:30 p.m. the seal swim under the highway, using a viaduct to get to the other side of the road there.
She flopped onto land, where rescuers were finally able to corner her and poke her with the pole mounted tranquilizer.. At first it didn’t seem to faze her. Then she collapsed., That’s when rescuers were able to take blood and tissue samples which confirmed she was pregnant.Then.
They loaded her onto a truck and drove her to Point Reyes, National Seashore to be released. So long, Bathsheba de Tolay.. Good luck with the other tide! .