Stranded seal rescued from Fremont front yard

Officials with the Marine Mammal Center picked up a northern fur seal earlier Thursday after it was spotted in the front yard of a Fremont home.

The seal named Kumofur was reported to police at 8:06 a.m. at a home in the 42300 block of Osgood Road, adjacent to Interstate Highway 680.

Police initially said Kumofur was a California sea lion, but Marine Mammal Center officials have since clarified that the animal is a seal.

Kumofur has been in the care of the center in the past, where it was treated for malnutrition, center officials said.

She was rescued in November of last year at New Brighton State Beach in Capitola and released earlier this month at Scotty Creek Beach in Bodega Bay.

Marine Mammal Center spokeswoman Laura Sherr said that it’s not uncommon to see young seals strand themselves more than once. Kumofur is 9 months old. Males live about 10 years while females live about 27 years, according to Sherr.

Kumofur was just one of a record number of northern fur seals rescued by the Marine Mammal Center last year. By Nov. 19, 2015, more than 80 had been rescued, three times the number in 2014 and more than twice the record number rescued in 2006.

Kumofur was found far from San Francisco Bay. Sherr said the pup may have been following a food source or got lost and went up a wrong waterway.

Northern fur seals typically live far out to sea, though a small population lives on the Farallon Islands. Some live on the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.

Police nicknamed her Ozzie because she was found on Osgood Road, Fremont police spokeswoman Officer Geneva Bosques said.

Ozzie, or Kumofur, was under a tree when police arrived. She did not have any visible injuries, Bosques said.

Police picked her up in a towel and placed her in a cage in a quiet area before Marine Mammal Center staff arrived.

Sherr said Kumofur won’t receive a medical exam until Friday, so Kumofur’s official condition wasn’t available.

Center staff identified Kumofur by a tag on her flipper.

Marine Mammal Center officials are asking the public to call the center’s hotline at (415) 289-SEAL (7825) if they see a stranded marine mammal, such as a seal. The officials are asking people to let staff rescue the animal rather than trying to rescue it themselves.

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