KTLA

Stubborn Elephant Seal Who Repeatedly Tried to Cross Bay Area Highway Gives Birth

A picture of Tolay the elephant seal with her new pup born at Point Reyes National Seashore. (Credit: Jim Rolka / Marine Mammal Center)

A 900-pound female elephant seal who seemed determined to cross a busy state highway in the San Francisco Bay Area last week gave birth over the weekend, according to the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The pregnant seal was first spotted trying to cross State Route 37 south of Sonoma on Monday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Marin Office.

CHP’s Marin Office tweeted this photo of efforts to coax an elephant seal back onto the water in the Sonoma area on Dec. 28, 2015.

Authorities used a variety of approaches to try to coax the stubborn mother-to-be into open water, but she continued her attempts to cross the highway, the CHP reported.

Barbie Halaska, a research assistant at the mammal center, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “She’s a 900-pound elephant seal. She pretty much does what she wants.”

Rescuers loaded an elephant seal onto a pickup truck after she was sedated with a tranquilizer on Dec. 29, 2015. (Credit: California Highway Patrol)

Finally, the seal was sedated and relocated to Point Reyes, where on Saturday she gave birth to a pup, the National Seashore stated in a Facebook post.

“The birth was seen from the Elephant Seal overlook at Chimney Rock,” the post stated.