A volunteer and I drove down to take a look. What we found was a young California Sea Lion, severely underweight, dehydrated, lethargic and trying to drink sea water. His symptoms told us that he was probably inflicted with Leptospirosis, or a bacterial infection that causes kidney failure. We assessed him as an immediate rescue. He had other plans.

Once he realized that there were people watching him, he quietly slipped into the water and swam away. We were able to follow him the length of the harbor, past the public boat launch and almost to the US Coast Guards back door. There he gracefully sat at the waters edge, posing on a rock, looking at us.

We needed reinforcements, more people and equipment!

We returned to our vehicles, to make calls and sort out the equipment we had brought. When we returned he was gone, no sign of him anywhere. We continued to look but did not find him. We would have to wait for the next call.

The next call came that evening from a fisherman in the harbor who said he was lying next to his boat on a dock. Again we went down to look, this time bringing some extra help.

He was very tired and it looked like an easy rescue, we thought. After throwing the net three times, he managed to slip off the dock each time and swim away, finally he disappeared again without a sound or a ripple. Of course after I had gone home, the call came that he was back right where he had been. Tomorrow was another day.

The next day, we set out with a crew of volunteers and equipment to catch the elusive Sea Lion. Several hours of throwing the net, only to watch him slip off the dock and swim to the next one, he finally tired of the game and disappeared again. Only to resurface that evening next to what appeared to be his favorite boat on C dock.

It was time for serious reinforcements and strategy. I called the Coast Guard. Lt. jg. Titus sent over guardsmen, Aaron De Sal, who had previously trained with us in Marine Mammal Rescue as well as himself with the Coast Guards Rescue Zodiac.

We figured we could get him by throwing the net from either the boat or the dock and be able to block his escape from either side. Wrong! After four more tiring hours for the rescuers of moving from slip to slip and from dock to dock, our Sea Lion again disappeared without a sight or sound. Again, that night he slept next to his favorite boat.

By the fourth day, the Crescent Fire Protection District Chief and Volunteer Fire Fighters hear about our dilemma, (by this time who in Crescent City didn’t), and came to help. Deja-vu of the previous day, this time without a boat. We were at our wits end, a conference call to The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA told me that 99% of the time a dock rescue animal goes into the water. We were there. However, they suggested a salmon net and I asked around our fishing volunteers for one. No luck. We tried again that afternoon and threw the net once, he left.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. We went across the street to Englund Marine Supply and asked if they had a net that might hold a Sea Lion. $42 purchased what we now call the “Magic Net”.

The Sea Lion was resting on a slip and I slowly came up behind him and quickly placed the net over him. A volunteer quickly restrained him with a large towel to calm him and soon he was in the carrier.

We decided to name him Legolas, from the Lord of the Rings. He was a very handsome Sea Lion, and very elusive like an elf.

Legolas was treated with a therapy of antibiotics and fluids and gained over 30 pounds in his 30 days at the NMMC.

He was released on May Day and gave his own special goodbye to the volunteers that had cared for him by running out from the carrier and then running back through a crowd of onlookers before heading off into the wild.

Lanni Hall
NMMC Facility Director