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Wayward sea lion is back — this time found in a San Diego storm drain

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Wayward sea lion is back — this time found in a San Diego storm drain


SAN DIEGO — Meet Freeway. He is a teenage mischief maker, a land-loving sea lion fishing for freedom.

And now the pinniped, who earned notoriety in January when he shut down a busy San Diego freeway a pair miles from the ocean, is again.

Final month, somebody noticed him wandering up a storm drain in Logan Heights, a few half-mile from the place the drain hits San Diego Harbor. A SeaWorld Rescue group plucked him from the muck April 7. It took some coaxing to catch him, SeaWorld Rescue group supervisor Jeni Smith mentioned final week.

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If he’d stayed in that storm drain, he would have made it again to the freeway interchange the place he disrupted site visitors in January. It is a direct shot.

Since his most up-to-date rescue, Freeway has been in a rehab of types, getting his conduct assessed. No person is aware of why he retains going to date inland.

On Jan. 7, Freeway made a brazen midmorning try to cross state Route 94 close to state Route 15, east of downtown San Diego. Shocked drivers screeched their vehicles to a halt on the sight of him. A couple of jumped out and stopped different vehicles so Freeway may scoot safely throughout eastbound lanes to the grass within the heart divide.

SeaWorld’s Rescue group responded, scooped him up, watched him for a month after which returned him to the ocean.

They’d first rescued him a couple of months earlier in November, once they discovered him strolling on to Harbor Island Drive. They rehabbed him at SeaWorld for every week, fitted his left flipper with an orange tag and dropped him again into the ocean.

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January marked rescue No. 2. April made it three.

These are simply the rescues. He is been noticed ashore a couple of instances since that first rescue — Level Loma, Encinitas, Cardiff. However these spots are close to the water.

He does not have an official identify. SeaWorld’s Rescue group does not identify the creatures they save. However unofficially and affectionately, some name him Freeway.

After his freeway stunt, the rescuers added a second orange tag, this one on the fitting flipper, so he may very well be recognized shortly and simply.

The tags maintain figuring out knowledge, however they aren’t geo-locators, These dear trackers are used for endangered species and the like.

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When SeaWorld Rescue received the decision a few sea lion in a storm drain final month, the caller couldn’t see the orange tags. However SeaWorld staffers suspected it was Freeway.

Smith mentioned his April journey took him properly out of his habitat.

“There was no meals supply for him. He was sadly amongst trash and purchasing carts,” she mentioned.

The animal reacted when he noticed the rescuers method, she mentioned. Once they provided up fish, he gladly took it. When animals wander out of their ocean habitat, it is normally for meals, Smith mentioned.

Freeway’s weight is nice and Smith believes he eats within the ocean with out drawback. His physique situation can be good, no bumps or bruises.

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They determine he is about 10 to 13 years previous. Eventually verify, he weighed 85.5 kilograms — roughly 188 kilos.

Sea lions could be noticed hanging out in crowds, flopped onto one another. Nobody is aware of why Freeway just isn’t staying with an enormous group. At SeaWorld, he is been dwelling with three different three sea lions, and he has been social with them.

Freeway is certainly one of 37 sea lions SeaWorld has rescued this 12 months. Often, the group has to rescue an animal greater than as soon as. It isn’t typically, although, and more often than not the animals are discovered of their pure habitat. They might be emaciated, could also be tangled in fishing line, could have a shark chunk.

The purpose is all the time to get the animal wholesome and return it to the wild, Smith mentioned.

Freeway stays on the park whereas SeaWorld staffers proceed assessing his conduct and attempting to determine a plan for him. No date is ready but for his return to the ocean.

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“We would like him to be in a secure scenario,” Smith mentioned. “We wish to do what’s finest for the ocean lion. … Proper now, as a result of he has been rescued 3 times in unsafe conditions, we try to determine what his plan is.”

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©2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Go to sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.



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San Diego, CA

San Diego takes on Idaho after Bradley’s 27-point outing

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San Diego takes on Idaho after Bradley’s 27-point outing


Associated Press

Idaho Vandals (2-4) at San Diego Toreros (1-4)

San Diego; Sunday, 5 p.m. EST

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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Toreros -2; over/under is 146.5

BOTTOM LINE: San Diego hosts Idaho after Kjay Bradley Jr. scored 27 points in San Diego’s 72-67 loss to the Southern Utah Thunderbirds.

The Toreros are 1-4 in home games. San Diego is 1-1 in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Vandals are 0-2 on the road. Idaho is sixth in the Big Sky scoring 35.3 points per game in the paint led by Julius Mims averaging 8.0.

San Diego scores 70.0 points per game, 7.3 fewer points than the 77.3 Idaho allows. Idaho averages 9.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.9 more makes per game than San Diego allows.

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TOP PERFORMERS: Bradley is scoring 19.6 points per game and averaging 2.8 rebounds for the Toreros.

Mims is averaging 12.3 points and seven rebounds for the Vandals.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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San Diego, CA

Brush fire breaks out near Otay Mesa

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Brush fire breaks out near Otay Mesa


Firefighters were battling a vegetation fire on Otay Mountain in San Diego County Saturday that had the potential to reach 200 acres, authorities said.

The fire was reported around 2:10 p.m. Saturday in the Otay Mountain Wilderness area, just east of Otay Mesa, according to Cal Fire San Diego. By around 4:45 p.m., the fire had spread to 58 acres but crews had already reached 10% containment.

“Fire crews are making good progress on the fire. There is currently no structure threat or evacuation,” Cal Fire wrote on X.

The San Diego Fire Department, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Land Management were assisting in the effort.

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The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

This is a developing story. NBC 7 will continue to update this page with more information as it arrives.





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Indigenous leaders from around the world gather in San Diego County to shape the future of sustainability

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Indigenous leaders from around the world gather in San Diego County to shape the future of sustainability


Members of the Kumeyaay Nation met with Indigenous leaders from around the world this week to discuss Indigenous ecological knowledge and envision how cities can incorporate it into their sustainability plans.

Held in celebration of Indigenous Heritage Week and Native American Heritage Month, the Sustainable Design Forum provided a space for Indigenous people to exchange their expertise on global issues such as wildlife conservation, climate change, deforestation and reef preservation.

The weeklong event featured panel discussions with leaders as well as cultural activities across the city, including a tule boat launch, art displays and a showcase of Indigenous films.

It was organized by San Diego Sister Cities and UC San Diego Global Initiatives and co-hosted by the Kumeyaay and Maasai people, an Indigenous group from Kenya.

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The event highlighted the commonalities between Indigenous people across the globe — from the Tembé people of Alto Rio Guamá, Brazil, Ryukyuan people from Okinawa, Japan, to the Noongar and Nhanda Yamaji people from Perth, Australia — in their struggle to preserve their land and ways of life.

“The land that we come from is on both sides of the border: Half is on this side, another half is in Baja California, Mexico,” said Stan Rodriguez, president of the Kumeyaay Community College, to a group during the forum on Thursday.

After having suffered against centuries of colonization, “it’s important for us to keep our identity of who we are as Native people,” he added. “And that struggle is worldwide.”

Other local tribal members were also a part of the forum, including Stephen Cope, the chair of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, and artist Johnny Bear Contreras, who moderated the panel discussion and recently created a living land acknowledgement sculpture installation at San Diego State University.

Several of the international leaders were welcomed to San Diego on Monday at the San Pasqual Reservation Cultural Center in Valley Center, including Walter McGuire, of the Noongar people from Australia, who performed an Aboriginal song using boomerangs as musical instruments.

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“This has been a dream to bring us all together,” said Jessica Censotti, the executive director of San Diego Sister Cities, during the welcome ceremony.

Sister Cities International was founded in 1956 by President Eisenhower to establish connections based on “citizen diplomacy” — where residents could collaborate on economic, cultural, educational and community development without the influence of governments.

San Diego’s chapter was created more than 60 years ago and has 24 partnerships in 23 countries. But the Sustainable Design Forum, which has been in the works for nearly two years, is the first Indigenous gathering.

“We didn’t want just city-to-city, government-to-government,” Censotti said. “It was important … to bring Indigenous leaders together to create unity.”

Nashipae Nkadori, a member of the Maasai people of Kenya, said on Thursday evening before the panel discussion that she was most looking forward to sharing how her community is working to improve access to water. Currently, people must often walk 10 miles in the heat for water.

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Other Maasai representatives were set to discuss wildlife conservation and how Kenyans can coexist with wild animals outside of designated parks.

“I’m looking to learn from the people who are not from Kenya,” she said, as well as encourage other communities to “join our efforts in some of the work we’ve been doing.”

Nkadori described the Maasai as “the face of Kenya” and noted that the tribe has worked to maintain its cultural traditions and lifestyles amid modernization across the country. But they have been forced to change in some ways.

The Masaai are considered pastoral, living semi-nomadically as they move with their livestock. But over recent years, climate change has led to severe famine and droughts, as well as economic shifts, and families can’t afford to raise as many animals as in the past.

Thousands of miles away in Japan, the Ryukyuan peoples have faced their own challenges.

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Gabriel Sink traveled from the island of Okinawa with his sister and Kinjo Koji, a marine researcher who has played a key role in coral transplantation. Coral bleaching, caused by rising sea levels, has devastated large swaths of Okinawa’s reefs.

Sink, 22, said he’s glad to be able to help share Koji’s work on the global stage, especially since Okinawa is a small island and many of its inhabitants, especially those who are older, aren’t tech-savvy.

He’s also grateful to connect with other Indigenous communities that have faced years of oppression yet keep fighting for their languages and cultures.

“It’s so cool that everyone can meet up here,” Sink said. “I feel less alone.”

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