{"id":635481,"date":"2026-05-10T22:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635481\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T22:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:11:09","slug":"the-biggest-draw-at-fishermans-wharf-has-disappeared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635481\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest draw at Fisherman’s Wharf has disappeared"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Trust me, it\u2019s Chonkers<\/a>,\u201d the girl said, snapping her gum, a cluster of other preteens in her wake as they beelined toward Pier 39\u2019s<\/a> K-Dock. \u201cWe\u2019re going to know it when we see him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Staring at the blubbery pile of barking, yawning pinniped<\/a>s lounging in front of us, I\u2019m not so sure. I start to think that if I believe it enough, any reasonably large sea lion could be him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s around lunchtime on a recent Thursday, and the girl\u2019s remark is the only time I\u2019ve heard anyone utter the animal celebrity\u2019s name since a photographer and I went out on \u201cChonkers Watch.\u201d The lone exception was one other reporter I spotted darting through the sea lion viewing area, desperately trying to find anyone who would comment on him. \u201cWho?\u201d one woman asked, shivering in her freshly purchased Fisherman\u2019s Wharf hoodie.<\/p>\n

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\"Chonkers,<\/p>\n

Chonkers, a giant Steller sea lion, sits on a dock at San Francisco’s Fishermen’s Wharf, Thursday, April 30, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Haven Daley\/AP<\/p>\n

As of Sunday, it\u2019s been days since the sea lion the size of a\u00a0Prius has been seen at the San Francisco tourist attraction, dwarfing his fellow sunbathers and drawing an international legion of fans. This makes sense: A big animal surrounded by a bunch of smaller, lookalike animals is just funny. It tickles a primal part of the brain. Yet what surprised me was why, in a year that\u2019s already seen a coyote swimming to Alcatraz<\/a> and a historic avian flu outbreak spread to California marine mammals<\/a>, people seemed to care now more than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time a Steller sea lion, the largest of all eared seals<\/a>, has shown up at K-Dock. A different one was reported<\/a> there as recently as 2023. Both individuals were likely from the Eastern population group found along the U.S. and Canadian coastline, which was previously considered endangered but delisted in 2013.<\/p>\n

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But something about this one has warranted a phenomenon Sue Muzzin, a spokesperson for Pier 39, has dubbed \u201cBonkers for Chonkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople from all over are coming back, day after day, because they want to see him,\u201d she told me over the phone before our visit.<\/p>\n

\"Chonkers<\/p>\n

Chonkers the Steller sea lion rests on K-Dock.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of PIER 39<\/p>\n

The first sightings in March were posted on Reddit<\/a>, where users first coined his name. San Francisco resident Joe Lo, who works near Fisherman\u2019s Wharf and often swings by Pier 39 after clocking out, told SFGATE he first saw the sea lion that was noticeably bigger than the rest on March 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe woke up and swam off and spooked the rest of the sea lions,\u201d Lo told SFGATE.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d never seen one that huge before,\u201d he added. \u201cI thought it was an elephant seal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chonkers<\/p>\n

Chonkers the Steller sea lion rests on K-Dock.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of PIER 39<\/p>\n

I asked Giancarlo Rulli at the Marine Mammal Center what was up, but he wasn\u2019t too surprised \u2014 appearances from Steller sea lions at the site otherwise populated by California sea lions are infrequent but not uncommon, he said. (The Stellers are commonly mistaken for their pinniped counterparts, but grow two to three times larger and are lighter in color.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Chonkers\u2019 popularity grew. He appeared on “Good Morning America”<\/a> and made national headlines in the New York Times<\/a> and the Wall Street Journal<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat was the real firestorm for us,\u201d Muzzin said. Normally, Pier 39\u2019s sea lion webcam<\/a> gets about 2,000 visits per day, she told SFGATE. The day after the WSJ article was published, they jumped up to 15,000. \u201cSomeone sent me a photo and there were three rows of people deep, looking for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chonkers<\/p>\n

Chonkers the Steller sea lion rests on K-Dock.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of PIER 39<\/p>\n

The Marine Mammal Center was also flooded with phone calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to this week, there was a two week stretch where I was fielding anywhere from 10-20 interview requests (local, national and international outlets) a day alone just on\u00a0Chonkers,\u201d Rulli told me recently in an email. \u201cEasily the busiest media stretch on a single animal story since northern elephant seal, Tolay, a pregnant female<\/a>, tried to cross Highway 37 in late December 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The experts I spoke with attributed Chonkers\u2019 fame to not only his extraordinary size and commanding appearance, but also the length of time he\u2019s spent at Fisherman\u2019s Wharf. In the past, other\u00a0Steller sea lions tended to visit for a day or two before heading out into the water again. Chonkers also comes and goes, but his stay has approached nearly two months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s given the story time to grow,\u201d Adam Ratner, director of conservation engagement at the Marine Mammal Center, told SFGATE over the phone. \u201cIt\u2019s been truly remarkable and different from anything we\u2019ve seen before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Chonkers<\/p>\n

Chonkers the Steller sea lion rests on K-Dock.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of PIER 39<\/p>\n

Ratner thinks people have also been drawn to the positive news at a time when marine mammals have been facing a myriad of threats, citing the avian flu outbreak and stressors imperiling gray whales migrating through the bay<\/a>. Just why Chonkers sought out K-Dock is a little more difficult to parse, but Ratner boiled it down to one likely reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cChonkers is working smarter, not harder,\u201d he said. The 2,000-pound animal presumably saw California sea lions had discovered a place where they could eat and nap at a safe distance from human impacts, and was inspired to join them. \u201cIt\u2019s a chance for him to fatten up before breeding season starts in a month. He\u2019s finding food and getting ready before he has to compete with animals that are bigger than him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratner confirmed that at least one other Steller sea lion has popped up at Pier 39 since Chonkers\u2019 arrival. \u201cHe\u2019s smaller\u201d and younger, he said, lacking the distinctive mane Steller sea lions develop in adulthood. A few others have also been spotted around the bay during routine whale surveys in the past few weeks, but it\u2019s likely a coincidence, Ratner said, as the opportunistic animals identify and seek out the wealth of food in the area: mostly anchovy, but also herring, capelin and salmon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for a Steller sea lion to take up residence with a colony of California sea lions, Ratner said. Both populations coexist at rookeries in the Farallones, Fort Ross and at A\u00f1o Nuevo Island. They\u2019re highly social animals and generally enjoy one another\u2019s company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Chonkers<\/p>\n

Chonkers the Steller sea lion rests on K-Dock.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of PIER 39<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly you see some of the smaller sea lions startled when you have a 2,000-pound sea lion jumping onto the dock that is their deck and shaking it pretty violently,\u201d Ratner said. \u201cBut he seems to be getting along decently well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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For that reason, experts don\u2019t plan to intervene. Steller sea lions, particularly males, can travel long distances in a season, and it\u2019s possible Chonkers could be heading as far as Southern California if he really is gone for good. In the meantime, he\u2019s certainly made a name for himself: The massive animal has his own dedicated webpage<\/a> where he\u2019s touted as a \u201cviral sea-lebrity.\u201d Impressively, he evaded one of Mayor Daniel Lurie\u2019s Instagram videos<\/a>. A stuffed animal made in his likeness sold out<\/a> within minutes but has since been restocked. If he’s lucky, he’ll go down in history like Humphrey the whale<\/a>, or San\u00a0Francisco’s wild parrots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been wonderful to see so many people inspired or in awe of a marine mammal,\u201d Ratner said. \u201cSomething we strive for as a hospital is building a sense of connection and awareness, and Chonkers has been able to capture people\u2019s imaginations in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE – An aerial view of San Francisco’s Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf.<\/p>\n

JasonDoiy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ratner said he\u2019d like to see the media raise awareness toward other Steller sea lions that aren\u2019t doing so well, like the Western stock found in Alaska and Russia. It\u2019s still endangered and has been facing significant threats due to effects of fisheries on their prey<\/a>, which have been compounded by the impacts of climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople are discovering these magnificent animals the size as cars that share the same beaches as we do,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope his story can help inspire them that these animals still need help.\u201d<\/p>\n