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A dog and a sea lion went viral for their game of catch after it was recorded at a beach in Santa Cruz over the weekend. Dave Nelson was playing fetch with his dog Moe at the beach when he noticed a sea lion was following them up and down the beach as they played. "It came all the way up to the beach and Moe went out and sniffed, and the Sea Lion gave a couple loving barks," Nelson told KSBW 8. Nelson said that is when he started to record the fun. The dog and the sea lion...

NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) — The 700-pound sea lion blinked in the sun, sniffed the sea air and then lazily shifted to the edge of the truck bed and plopped onto the beach below. Freed from the cage that carried him to the ocean, the massive marine mammal shuffled into the surf, looked left, looked right and then started swimming north as a collective groan went up from wildlife officials who watched from the shore. After two days spent trapping and relocating the animal designated #U253, he was headed back to where he started — an Oregon river 130 miles (209...

“That was a big sea lion that grabbed that girl into the water. They’re unpredictable and have a wild streak.” Wallerstein, who rescues mostly distressed sea lions, said. No matter where you are along the Southern California coast, there are sea lions there. They’re cute, but they can be very dangerous. “They’re aggressive. You’ve gotta respect them. They’re mean, they’re tough,” Redondo Beach fisherman Scott Gilmartin said. The girl appeared unharmed. The video... has been posted to YouTube where it has been viewed more than 800,000 times in less than 24 hours.

Astounding new footage shows a sea lion grabbing a little girl off a dock and pulling her underwater. The kid was feeding the male sea mammal bread crumbs near the water near Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday, but when she sat down on the edge of the jetty, the huge creature tried to make a meal out of her — grabbing her dress in its jaws and dragging her into the water.

A man is recovering after a sea lion bit his hand and pulled him off a boat and underwater, San Diego officials said. The man was holding a fish on a docked boat in the Hyatt Mission Bay Marina Sunday afternoon when the sea lion, apparently attempting to get the fish, bit the man's arm and pulled him into the water by his hand, said Lee Swanson, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. He was pulled under for about 20 seconds, though he did not take in any water. By the time rescue officials arrived, he was back...

Dan Murphy was surfing Cardiff By-the-Sea when a wiggly little creature jumped on his board and crawled up his back. At first, the Cardiff resident thought he was being attacked. But as he turned around, he saw a sea lion pup hugging him, as if the animal were scared. Murphy, a longtime surfer, was amazed. On that Sunday morning off the shore of San Elijo Campground, a friendship was formed, he said. “You see a lot of wildlife. You see those pups around this time of year,” he said. “I’ve never seen them interact with people like that.” Murphy said...

Kevin Hines was battling mental illness when he tried to commit suicide, but believed the sea creature kept him afloat and saved his lifeA man who was suffering from mental illness and depression has revealed how a sea lion saved his life after he tried to kill himself. Kevin Hines jumped off San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 2000, but against all the odds he managed to survive. Hines told how his depression had led him to see life through a "bit of tunnel vision," leading him to think he had to die. SNIP He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:...

When Europeans came to the Americas, they brought some nasty diseases — smallpox, cholera and typhus, to name a few.But one pathogen was already there. And it likely traveled to the shores of South America in a surprising vessel.By analyzing DNA from 1,000-year-old mummies, scientists have found evidence that sea lions and seals were the first to bring tuberculosis to the New World. The sea animals likely infected people living along the coast of Peru and northern Chile, a team from the University of Tubingen in Germany reported Wednesday in the journal Nature."We weren't expecting to find a connection to...

Viral video shows a shark beaching itself on an Australian beach, and now we're finding out why. Scientists say the shark swallowed an adult sea lion and it got stuck in the shark's throat. Viral video making the rounds on the Internet shows the shark swimming close to the shoreline of a western Australian beach. The video was captured July 12. An updated post two days later said the shark's carcass had washed up on the beach. In the video the great white shark can be seen very close to the shore. Scientists say it then swam about 50 meters...

Gabrielle Giffords’ Husband Pulls Daughter’s Dog Off Sea Lion In Laguna Beach LAGUNA BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Gabrielle Giffords’ husband pulled his daughter’s dog off of a sea lion in Laguna Beach over the weekend. The incident, which was captured on video, happened around 1:40 p.m. Saturday at Goff Cove Beach by the Montage Laguna Beach. Retired astronaut Mark Kelly’s 18-year-old daughter, who was on vacation with her father and Giffords, was walking the American bulldog on a leash when the 65-pound dog saw the sea lion, ran off and attacked. Nathan, who declined to give his last name, happened to...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A sea lion pup has been captured after hiding under a San Diego police car for four hours in the middle of a road. Police Sgt. Jack Knish says officers got a call about 4 a.m. Wednesday that the pup was crossing a street in the Ocean Beach area.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.- A California man said he awoke to sounds on his rooftop deck and investigated to find a sea lion pup flopping around atop the four-story home. Mike Kai, 27, of Newport Beach, said he woke up Thursday at about sunrise and investigated the source of the sounds on top of his house to discover the sea lion wandering around on the rooftop deck, the Orange County Register reported Friday. "It came off the beach, and I guess the way our stairs work, you can climb straight up to our roof deck," Kai said. Kai called animal control...

Sea lions fitted with GPS trackers and a National Geographic Crittercam are taking scientists on amazing journeys to previously unknown marine ‘hot spots.’ These areas are important not only for providing the sea lions’ food, but also for maintaining fish populations. The Crittercams were deployed at Dangerous Reef in Spencer Gulf, a rocky island the size of a football field, and home to the biggest Australian sea lion colony. Dr. Page says, “One important discovery is that the sea lions always feed on the sea floor” and they don’t eat open ocean fish, known as pelagic. “This is critical information...

The deadliest force known to man—The Law of Unintended Consequences—has struck again. This time it has led to the deliberate slaughter of sea lions by armed agents of the U.S. Government. What happened was this: A dam was built in Bonneville, east of Portland, Oregon. As dams will, it created a barrier for both water and anything else that would otherwise traverse the river. This “anything else” included fish, like salmon. And not just any salmon, chinook salmon. See, chinook salmon are one of the lucky few species protected by a law meant to preserve their breed: The Endangered Species...

There are things more important than winning a race...(I know, hard to believe)... These guys could have scared the pup off the back and kept racing but instead made a commendable choice. From Randy Smith A very heartwarming story from Campbell Cup this weekend. A baby seal stricken with a horrible fishing net around its neck jumped aboard the Andrews 70 Alchemy, seemingly reaching out for help for its pain. The crew took the seal into Alamitos Bay ...and handed it over to a Marine Animal Rescue team. The latest report is that the seal will survive. This is what...

A male sea lion on has died of exhaustion after a marathon mating session at an zoo in Germany. The mammal, named Mike who was originally from California, was already a father of 12. He passed away yesterday after an extended session with the females at the park in Nuremberg proved too much for his heart. Mike - described as 'good-natured' by the zoo - had mated repeatedly with females Farah, Tiffy and Soda.

Young sea lion rescued from Richmond expressway Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, May 21, 2009 RICHMOND -- A young sea lion was rescued today after it was found roaming an expressway in Richmond, authorities said. IMAGES The 30-pound, 3-foot-long sea lion, believed to be just under a year old, was found on the Richmond Parkway near Giant Road about 1:20 a.m. Richmond police called a volunteer with the Marine Mammal Center who lives nearby to help snag the sea lion. The whiskered critter played a game of hide-and-seek for a while, maneuvering underneath a police cruiser near Goodrick...

Why did the sea lion cross the road? The better question might be: How did he get there? A sea lion pup showed up in lanes of traffic on Richmond Parkway near Giant Highway in Richmond just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday. When officers got there, the little pup hid under squad cars. Cops eventually got it out and into a carrier case. It's now at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito and appears to be in good health. Wildlife experts speculate the pup may have come from the ocean at San Pablo Bay or possibly a nearby creek. Marine mammal...

OAKLAND — An emaciated-looking California sea lion that wandered to the edge of an Oakland International Airport runway was sent to a marine animal hospital Tuesday.

A federal appeals court injunction issued Wednesday says Northwest states can trap, but not kill, the animalsThe on-again, off-again permission for Oregon and Washington officials to kill salmon-gobbling sea lions below Bonneville Dam is off again, courtesy of a federal appeals court injunction issued Wednesday. However, the appeals court said state officials could still capture sea lions and ship them to zoos. Oregon officials said they will begin trapping up to eight of the Bonneville animals today. The sea lions gather at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River to feast on salmon, including imperiled species, gathering to climb the dam's...