Elephant seal stubbornly sticks to area near Sonoma County highway

The California Highway Patrol said the 500-pound elephant seal tried to cross Highway 37 in Sonoma County several times Monday, once making it as far as the median.

When we last checked in on the seal yesterday afternoon, both the Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito and the San Pablo Bay National Marine Sanctuary had dispatched a rescue team to help deal with the large animal (female elephant seals can weigh up to 1,800 pounds).

CHP’s Marin Office tweeted this photo of efforts to coax an elephant seal back onto the water in the Sonoma area on December 28, 2015. Sherr says center veterinarians took blood samples and performed an ultrasound, which confirmed that the seal is pregnant.

Locals are saying she is still hanging around the bay today. “She pretty much does what she wants”, Barbie Halaska, a research assistant at the mammal centre, was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle as saying. Crews are transporting the mammal, nicknamed Tolay, to Chimney Rock near Point Reyes.

“What we’ve seen is she’s obviously still trying to get out of the water”.

But the seal, which some rescuers dubbed “Tolay” after the name of the creek where she was hunkered down, pushed back and barked at the rescue crews. That’s the riddle that’s begat a nightmare traffic jam in Sonoma County – and it all started with a giant elephant seal. The Marine Mammal Center and the CHP kept a close eye on Tolay as it became a unsafe situation for drivers on this busy stretch of roadway. The CHP and state Department of Fish and Wildlife were also out to make sure the seal stayed clear of danger.

Experts say it is possible that the seal could be pregnant and is trying to find a place to give birth.

“I hope she gets out OK”, Laughlin said.

“She’s a lovely animal who appears to be in flawless health”, Halaska said.

The pinniped, which Officer Andrew Barclay, a CHP spokesman described as a “very large, very determined elephant seal”, was successfully ushered into the Bay at one point, but not convinced it was better than life on land, the animal again attempted to cross the road.