Bryan Owen, with the city of North Bend Parks Department, places orange cones around a young elephant seal near the California Street boat ramp in North Bend on Friday. World Photo by Susan Chambers

NORTH BEND �” One young elephant seal created a bit of a stir at the California Street boat ramp on Friday.

Twice.

The first time, late in the morning, it crawled out of the water and rested near shore.

Oregon State Police were there and called Fuzzy Farms Rescue owner Lucaina Camarillo to take a look at the animal.

Camarillo and her staff were able to give it some antibiotics and get it back in the water. She said it smelled as if some kind of infection may be setting in.

However, elephant seals are under federal protection and she is not licensed to euthanize it or rehabilitate it, she said. Other agencies in Oregon are, however.

Once back in the water, the young grayish-colored pinniped, about 4 feet long, seemed fine.

“He swam out 20 to 30 feet, popped his head up, then gave us a flip like, ‘thank you,’ and swam off,” Camarillo said.

She figured he was good to go.

But not two hours later, a call heard on a police scanner indicated the critter was back on land. This time, it was farther from shore, crawling up California Street. By 1 p.m., it was resting in the gutter, leaning against the curb. Every once in awhile, it would groan, yawn and lift its head, looking around with round, black-as-oil eyes and then go back to sleep.

Several onlookers, employees from local businesses, boaters and taxi drivers paused to inquire how it was doing. A handful of people stayed by the seal, waiting for marine biologists, state police or some kind of wildlife rescuers to arrive to ensure the seal was OK and to make sure it stayed out of traffic.

A call to the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 1:37 p.m. was canceled at 1:39 p.m., “because an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife marine biologist was on the way to check on the seal.” But ODFW offices in Charleston reported there is no marine mammal biologist on staff locally, and oftentimes mammal strandings calls are referred to the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology.

Bryan Owen, from the city of North Bend Parks Department, was among the people gathered back on California Street. After more than two hours of waiting, he went to city shops to get some orange cones to place around the wayward wanderer so traffic would be aware it was there.

Camarillo said there’s not only a danger to the animal, but to people, too. The animal could bite people, if it is threatened.

The seal appeared to have a round abrasion on its head and some light, straight gashes on its back. South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve Manager Mike Graybill noted that it’s not uncommon for elephant seals to have skin diseases. Many seals in the coastwide community are descendants from a relatively small population and subject to genetic problems such as skin disease.

Camarillo said this is the second young elephant seal in the last four months to have strayed on land and not returned to its watery home. The first was near Cape Arago, a victim of bite marks from a larger animal, she said.

Camarillo and her staff returned in the evening to put the seal back in the water.

“Once one of these animals is out of the water for six hours, they start to dehydrate,” she said. “The best thing to do is get it back in the water.”

She and her helpers rousted the young seal, and stomping and whistling, shooed it back into the bay and watched as it swam away.

They hoped it wouldn’t come back.

(Federal law states that pups and other marine mammals should be left alone and that the Marine Mammal Stranding Network should be notified. The number in Oregon for the network is (800) 452-7888.)