All videos courtesy of Destinee Bogue.<\/p>\n
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A sea lion has taken a trek up the Klamath and Trinity rivers to damn near Willow Creek. The pinniped was spotted by river-goers Friday twirling in fresh water at least 50 miles from the ocean.<\/p>\n
Experts say such a journey is rarely seen, but does happen every once in a while.<\/p>\n
In a video posted to social media<\/a>, the sea lion was spotted gliding through the water near Devil\u2019s Elbow, a popular swimming hole just north of Willow Creek.<\/p>\n Professor Dawn Goley, director of Cal Poly Humboldt\u2019s Marine Mammal Education and Research Program, identified the pinniped as a Steller sea lion, in an email to the Outpost.<\/p>\n \u201cThey typically stay in oceans, sometimes in river mouths, but rarely travel this far upstream,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said sea lions will follow food, and believes the creature is looking for fish upriver.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can\u2019t sustain itself in freshwater for long periods of time, though, so I suspect it will travel out on its own soon,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n The sea lion traveled far to reach the area, likely starting from the mouth of the Klamath and swimming into the Trinity at the confluence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sea lions are known to travel long distances up rivers<\/a>\u00a0occasionally, including one population that swims well over 100 miles up the Columbia River<\/a>\u00a0to fish.<\/p>\n But locally, it\u2019s not something seen often.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery handful of years it\u2019ll happen,\u201d said Justin Alvarez, deputy director of the Hoopa Valley Tribe\u2019s fisheries department.\u00a0<\/p>\n Occasionally harbor seals will make their way to tribal land, but more frequently, if a pinniped comes all the way up river, it\u2019s a sea lion, he said.<\/p>\n He recalled a sea lion being spotted at Tish Tang several years ago, but said the individual spotted Friday is the farthest he\u2019s known one to come upriver.<\/p>\n Alvarez said the sea lion could be looking for lamprey or salmonids to snack on, though noted there\u2019s not many spring salmon right now.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re also mammals and curious, and sometimes they just want to get an edge and explore,\u201d he added. There\u2019s some concern locally the sea lion could get stuck in gill nets or steal a fish.<\/p>\n The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the sea lion looks to them to be a juvenile, about 2-4 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is unusual for Stellers, and may be simply a young animal exploring potential habitat. The animals seen on the Columbia River, for example, are usually older and much larger,\u201d wrote Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries\u2019 West Coast Regional Office, in an email.<\/p>\n Alvarez encouraged people to keep their distance as sea lions are federally protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which makes it illegal to harass, capture or kill seals.<\/p>\n