A young, disoriented sea lion is recovering at a marine mammal sanctuary after surviving an outing on a San Carlos street Tuesday.
"We received several phone calls saying, 'Hey, there's a sea lion in the middle of the road,' " police Cmdr. Rich Cinfio said.
When officers went out to Old County Road, sure enough, there was a 3 1/2-foot-long sea lion.
Officers blocked traffic in both directions and used a large bucket to try to corral the sea lion before herding it into a dog carrier, Cinfio said.
"Of course, it was frightened and wanted to get away, but it was getting away in the wrong direction," Cinfio said. "It's near railway tracks and everything else."
Police figure the sea lion, which had no visible injuries, made its way onto the street from a nearby slough or drainage creek.
