Sea Lion Pup Survives Fall Off Bridge Onto Laguna Beach Highway

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LAGUNA BEACH (CBSLA) – A sea lion pup was hurt Monday night but survived after plummeting off a pedestrian bridge in Laguna Beach and landing on the South Coast Highway below.

A sea lion pup is treated at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, Calif., after surviving a fall off a bridge onto a highway on Dec. 23, 2019. (Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jim Cota/Twitter)

The incident began when people noticed that a sea lion had somehow climbed up onto the Aliso Beach pedestrian bridge, which crosses the Coast Highway at Aliso Circle, Laguna Beach police spokesman Sgt. Jim Cota tweeted.

After sitting on the bridge for about 40 minutes, the 33-pound sea lion dropped about 30 feet onto the shoulder of the northbound lanes of Coast Highway, according to the Orange County Register.

A sea lion pup is treated at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, Calif., after surviving a fall off a bridge onto a highway on Dec. 23, 2019. (Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jim Cota/Twitter)

Staff with the nonprofit Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC) responded and rushed him to their facility on Laguna Canyon Road for treatment, Cota reports.

The sea lion, which they nicknamed "Lord-a-Leaping, survived thanks to bushes and branches breaking his fall, PMMC wrote on its Facebook page. Radiographs determined that Lords-a-Leaping suffered no broken bones.

As of Tuesday, he was continuing his recovery at PMMC.

He is the eighth pup from the Channel Islands to be rescued by PMMC staff this season, the Register reports. Officials are unsure how he ended up on the bridge.