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The nine-month-old pup was recovered about an hour later by Lincoln Shaw, a volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center. He was named “Togg” by the photographers in Susanne Maxwell’s second period class.
“I think it was a very bizarre and unique incident,” science teacher Joe Stewart said.
Despite the rescue, Togg died last weekend. According to Marine Mammal Center volunteer and Redwood data specialist Kelly Starrett, the causes of his death were malnourishment, dehydration and low blood sugar.
Stewart suspects that the sea lion could have come up through the drainage system rerouted near the garden this year, while others speculated that he traveled from the creek along Lucky Drive.
“I’m sure he walked on his own,” Shaw said. “They’re very inquisitive animals and when they decide that they want to go some place, they just kind of start going.”
Shaw is positive it was not a prank, as many people suspected.
“If it was a prank, it was a really bad one because those are endangered animals, number one, and number two they’re very dangerous,” he said. “Anyone who was silly enough to pick him up and take him there might transfer any number of different illnesses to other family members or pets that they got around.”
The fact that Togg was sick was not a factor in why he got out of the water, as every sea lion pulls itself onto land on a regular basis, Shaw said. However, it might have contributed to why he moved so far from the water.
Shaw explained that unlike humans, sea lions get their water by eating fish, not by drinking it.
“I can tell that this guy has been eating, but he’s not eating a lot because his eyes are teary,” Shaw said during the rescue.
Originally, students thought Togg was a harbor seal, but then Stewart identified it as a California sea lion because of its external ears and difference in rear flippers.
