FLORENCE, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon State University team has freed a Stellar sea lion that found herself tangled in a trawler net and stuck on rocks at Sea Lion Caves near Florence, Ore.
Jim Rice of OSU’s Marine Mammal Stranding Network says the sea lion was attached to a rock by the net and would have starved without help.
Officials at the caves called Rice. He had to secure permission from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has authority over the threatened creatures.
His five-person team closed in on the sea lion Thursday. A veterinarian gave her a tranquilizing shot using a pole, but she never went to sleep so they were unable to cut the net off by hand. In fact, Rice says the rescuers had to take care not to get bitten.
