Baby seal flaps across road and narrowly escapes passing cars, California cops say

California police received reports on Saturday of what passersby thought was an otter struggling to cross the road.

But when they arrived, they found that the little animal was actually a baby northern fur seal who had “flapped” across the road and narrowly avoided being hit by passing cars, the San Rafael Police Department said in a Facebook post on Oct. 30.

Officers nicknamed the seal Ivy. They’re not sure how she ended up in the roadway, but volunteers from the nearby Marine Mammal Center responded quickly to help, the department said.

Ivy “will spend some time under care at the center,” the department said in the post.

Northern fur seals are typically found 600 miles off the coast and spend their lives at sea, the post said. Male seals tend to be much larger than female ones, which can be as small as 10 pounds when they’re born, according to the Marine Mammal Center.

This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Baby seal flaps across road and narrowly escapes passing cars, California cops say."