‘Desperate’ sea lion pup in need of help hops into California college rowing team’s boat

A severely malnourished sea lion pup jumped into a college women’s rowing team’s boat in need of help in California, photos show.

And what seemed like a cute chance encounter turned into a real rescue when the team noticed something was wrong with the emaciated hitchhiker, KCBS reported.

The pup snuggled up onto one of the UCLA rower’s legs to take a nap, but made it clear it didn’t want to be touched when the athlete went to pet it, KTVU reported.

It stayed there for more than 15 minutes as the team rowed back to shore, where the rower “realized something wasn’t right,” KCBS reported.

“He was kind of walking around in circles on the dock, like spinning,” Logan Hibbard told the station of the May 13 encounter. “So, that’s how you could tell something was wrong with him.”

The team called the Marine Mammal Care Center near Los Angeles, which took the hypothermic pup in to rehabilitate it, KTVU reported.

The pup likely hopped into the boat seeking safer ground and then crawled into Hibbard’s lap for warmth – away from the frigid water that made its emaciated body hypothermic, according to the center’s CEO John Warner.

“This animal was desperate,” he told McClatchy News over the phone. “An animal coming onto a platform that people are present on is not natural. They don’t seek out people. It likely did this very much out of a desperate state and what I want to commend the rowers for is not pushing it back into the water – that probably would have been a death sentence for this animal.”

Though it’s understandable to want to love on an animal in need, the pup climbing into Hibbard’s lap wasn’t ideal, Warner said. Wild animals are unpredictable, and being that close to one could have put Hibbard and the pup at risk.

Warner estimates the pup is between 9 and 11 months old, and looks to be around the same size it was at birth.

“That’s the alarming part of his health condition,” he said. “He should be about three or four times the size he is now.”

Photos of the pup at the center’s hospital show the sea lion is extremely malnourished, he said. The pup’s ribs and spine are clearly visible.

The pup likely wasn’t able to forage for food effectively, and could have been weaned or separated from its mother too early, Warner said.

The center expects to see a couple of emaciated pups per year – but this year his staff has seen 65% more animals admitted to the hospital than this time last year, he said. The hospital is at capacity and can’t take any more animals in.

“We are concerned for the state of the individual animals, and the population itself,” he said. “All these types of events point to an ocean environment that is in flux.”

He hopes the pup will be able to make a full recovery so it can be released back into the ocean. The center rescues and rehabilitates plenty of underweight and emaciated marine animals – with a high success rate, he said.

They won’t know whether the pup is out of the woods for another week or two, but the odds look good, he said.

The rowing team is also hoping to see the sea lion – which they nicknamed Bru, short for Bruin after their school’s mascot – back out on the water soon, KCBS reported.

“I just hope that he’s able to fully recover eventually and, hopefully, go back where he belongs and keep swimming and practicing with us in Marina Del Rey,” Hibbard told the station.

Sea lion pups stranded on California coast were ‘skin and bones.’ See them return home

Rescue organization ‘inundated’ with calls of sick sea lions on California coast

Dozens of pelicans turn up sick and distressed in California. Group searches for clues