Due to heavy rain, the basin the animal was in overflowed, allowing the sea lion to end up on the other side of the enclosure. The incident caused “no injuries,” according to the zoo.
Bad weather also makes people happy. A sea lion took advantage of the exceptional floods hitting New York, in the United States, to escape from the Central Park zoo on Friday, before being quickly returned to its enclosure.
“A female sea lion at the Central Park Zoo was able to swim out of her pool due to flooding caused by heavy rains that hit New York City (Friday),” the zoo reports in a communiqué.
The animal suddenly found itself on the other side of the enclosure, located in the middle of Central Park, while remaining nearby. This unexpected excursion to the heart of the Big Apple was captured by New Yorkers and shared on social media. In one video, we see the sea lion perched on a rock, surrounded by muddy water.
The animal quickly recovered
The escapade, however, was short-lived. According to the Central Park Zoo, the sea lion quickly “found the familiar surroundings of the swimming pool” and the company of its two other congeners of the same species.
From now on, “the water level has dropped and the animals are confined in their enclosure”, assures the zoo, which specifies that the sea lion “has remained inside the zoo, without ever crossing the secondary perimeter” of the premises.
“No staff member or visitor was in danger,” the establishment also promises.
20 mm of rain in a few hours
While a lot of content related to the floods circulated on social networks on Friday, the New York police called for caution.
“There are several videos online about flooding and animals escaping from zoos. These videos are misleading and erroneous,” warns the police of the famous New York park.
Heavy rains hit the Big Apple on Friday, flooding both the roads and partly paralyzing its metro traffic. 20 millimeters of precipitation fell in a few hours.
Closed with the start of the floods, the zoo has not yet set a date on which it will reopen its doors. “Animal care staff will continue to monitor the situation throughout the duration of the weather event,” assures the establishment in the meantime.
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2023-09-30 13:29:00
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