Angry sea lion tries to steal police patrol boat
An angry sea lion tried to make a getaway in a police harbour boat after being arrested by officers in California’s Orange County.
Officers coaxed the sea lion aboard the vessel after they had witnessed it barking angrily and threatening passers-by on the sea front at Newport Harbor.
But as they sailed back out into the harbour, the boat’s emergency lights started flashing, other equipment began turning on and off at random and the vessel started lurching, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department blog.
Descending from the main deck into the cabin where the sea lion was being held, they found the animal sitting at the boat’s secondary controls, flipping switches and with one flipper on the steering wheel.
The sea lion then tried to bite one of the officers before flopping over the side into the harbour.
The incident was the second run-in between Californian police and a sea lion in recent weeks, after officers in Oakland picked up a sea lion hitching a lift by the roadside.