A sea lion swimming upstream like a salmon made its way all the way inland to Vacaville, California yesterday morning, surprising locals who spotted it in the canal along Leisure Town Road. According to local police, who bestowed the name "Leisure" on the wayward animal after a brief naming contest, the Marine Mammal Center from Sausalito arrived in town in the afternoon to rescue Leisure, who then appeared trapped by high concrete walls. While in the morning the sea lion was "basking in the cool waters of Ulatis Creek," per Vacaville PD, in the afternoon he'd "retreated to a drainage pipe" and either couldn't get out or refused to. Out of view and perhaps stuck, as of last night, "a number of rescue efforts were attempted but sadly none worked," and the Marine Mammal Center called off its operations until morning.

The closest body of water to the area is the Sacramento River, 50 miles north of Vacaville, and the Associated Press and CBS 5 report that experts are unsure how Leisure found his way to his odd destination. It's possible, they say, that the animal was traveling up the river and took a wrong turn, following a series of agricultural ditches and waterways to arrive at the canal.

Fortunately, the situation for Leisure wasn't dire. “Although this is a rare location for a rescue call, this animal is in very good body condition and active, so we are hoping it just made a wrong turn,” Dr. Cara Field, a staff veterinarian at the Marine Mammal Center, told the news outlets, adding that Leisure was likely a young male “Our hope is that the animal makes his way back out of the pipe on his own so we can attempt another rescue.”

After last night's failed attempts to coax the animal out of the pipe and send him on his way, Leisure poked his head out this morning, KCRA writes, and was headed back down the canal in the direction of open waters this morning.

At ease, Leisure — be free!

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Vacaville Police Department via Facebook