A volunteer with the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (CIMWI) used a long pole and some careful maneuvering to remove a knife from the snout of a 400-pound sea lion this weekend.
The Santa Barbara rescue organization said in an Instagram post that the sea lion was first spotted at Hollywood Beach in Oxnard before it retreated to the water and swam over to a dock near the public boat ramp at Channel Islands Harbor.
Worried the big animal could charge if they got too close, a CIMWI volunteer used a pole affixed with a hook to snag the cord cutter slot on the knife’s handle. “Our volunteer pulled the hook straight and used slight upward pressure to avoid further cutting the sea lion as the blade came out of its face,” CIMWI said.