Elephant seal repeatedly tries to cross California highway

The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://sfg.ly/1TnQfpn) Tuesday that wildlife experts and law enforcement officials on Monday worked to keep the determined elephant seal off a Sonoma County highway that it has repeatedly tried to cross, snarling traffic in the area.

While traffic was slowed by drivers reacting to seeing the sea mammal on the highway, the number of people slowing down and even stopping to take photos of the seal also contributed to congestion in the area. Officer Andrew Barcley said motorists tried to help the seal, but “it did not want their help”.

The massive marine mammal was first reported in an eastbound lane of the highway near its junction with Highway 121 just after 1 p.m.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crews were able to divert the animal back into the water but it was still “very committed to crossing” Highway 37 and kept “trying to come out”, Barclay said. But it got back out of the water again at least twice. “It turned from calls for a sea lion in the road into calls of a sea lion attacking cars”.

After allowing the seal to exit the waterway and enter a parking lot on the south side of SR-37, personnel on scene attempted to channel her to a different waterway and hopefully back out into San Pablo Bay.

The elephant seal did not seem very pleased with the officers.

Laura Sherr, a spokeswoman for the Marine Mammal Centre, told ABC News the animal is not injured and was likely to have become lost and confused.