A Sea Lion Turned Up in the Middle of a Hayward Road, and Police Kept It Company Until Help Arrived

HAYWARD, Calif., Oct. 25, 2026 — Hayward police got a call Thursday afternoon that doesn't come in every day: there was a marine mammal in the middle of the road.

Officers responded at 12:42 p.m. on Oct. 22 to a report of a seal in a roadway near Breakwater Avenue, NBC Bay Area reported. The animal turned out to be a sea lion.

Officers and animal control kept it safe until The Marine Mammal Center could arrive and take over. According to the Hayward Police Department, the officers shared some playful moments with their visitor while they waited.

The Marine Mammal Center then took the sea lion into its care, Patch reported. It's not clear where it came from or how it ended up on the pavement.

It isn't the Bay Area's first pinniped with a taste for city streets. In April, a sea lion pup nicknamed Irving was found wandering around San Francisco, Patch noted.