The name given to a blubbery sea lion that can’t seem to stay away from the fishing lines hanging from the Balboa Pier is quite fitting.
The Pacific Marine Mammal Care Center in Laguna Beach lured in a 600-pound sea lion named “Captain Hook” last night on the sand at the Newport Dunes Resort for the second time in recent weeks, his body covered with lines and hooks.

The 7-foot long, 13-year-old bull was first brought in for care on Oct. 28, when animal care specialists pulled off about 70 hooks, lures and lines tangled all over his body. 

“It’s not common at all, we may have a few come in here with a few here and there,” said Kirsten Sedlick, animal care supervisor for the center. “He had been out there with quite a few hooks.”

Having that many hooks lodged into the body impedes the sea lion’s ability to hunt, Sedlick said. It’s likely that people were feeding the mammal, which is not recommended.

The group took him in and gave him antibiotics, fattened him up and released him on Nov. 14 at San Onofre. 

They thought they’d seen the last of Captain Hook, until a call came in last night from the Newport Dunes, an uncommon place for sea lions to hang out.

Animal care specialists had to use a rare tactic for luring in the massive creature, using fish to draw him onto the sand and then using a net and boards to get him into a kennel.

“He definitely fought us,” Sedlick said. “I’m still pretty sore today.”

The Pacific Marine Mammal Care Center – which rescues about 200 animals each year - will treat him for a few days, then release Captain Hook back into a wild from an isolated beach.

For more happenings along the coast, go to ocregister.com/beaches

- Laylan Connelly

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