A seal that had been trying to cross Highway 37 near Sonoma (in the San Francisco Bay area) was tranquilized today. The seal had been attempting to cross the California road, causing mile-long traffic pile-ups on both sides of the highway.
The elephant seal (nicknamed "Toley" after the name of the water body it used) first tried to cross the road on Monday. It appears to have made its first attempt in the afternoon of that day.
People that were driving on the highway at that time alerted California Highway Patrol and marine wildlife experts regarding the presence of the seal on the highway. Both the law enforcement department (represented by the Highway Patrol) and a team of marine wildlife experts attempted to move the seal from the road, according to the Examiner.
The Highway Patrol as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service teams tried to do this in different ways all through Monday. But every time the teams were able to persuade the seal to go into the water, it just circled back and returned to the road. Late Monday night, the rescue teams were confident that the seal would stay in the ocean after another attempt at night, according to Newsday.
However, the seal showed up again on Tuesday and started trying to cross the road again on Tuesday. This went on for some time again.
Finally, on Wednesday, after numerous attempts at scaring and persuading the seal to go back into the ocean had failed, rescuers tranquilized the seal. Nearly 12 people then picked up the very large, unconscious seal and placed it into the back of a truck. They said that they would then release the seal at Point Reyes National Seashore after examining it once.
People were baffled by what the seal might have been looking for that made it attempt the very dangerous crossing of the highway. Some experts felt that the female seal might have been pregnant and therefore was looking for a place where it could give birth safely. The size and weight of the seal was cited to support this, according to the Los Angeles Times.
