NC Zoo gets pair of sea lions

Storm and Dyson, two sea lions that were rescued off the coast of California, will now call North Carolina home.

Posted 8:22 p.m. Nov 1, 2013 — Updated 8:22 p.m. Nov 1, 2013

ASHEBORO, N.C. — Two young sea lions are making their new home at the North Carolina Zoo.

Zoo officials said Friday that the male and female sea lions, both about 16 months old, arrived by air freight at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro. They were flown in from Sea World of San Diego, which rescued the animals after they were abandoned or separated from their mothers.

Storm, the female sea lion, and Dyson, the male, traveled from Greensboro to the zoo in Asheboro by truck. They will be quarantined for 30 days before joining a pair of male Harbor seals in the zoo’s Rocky Coast exhibit.

Zoo officials said Sea World of San Diego rescues an average of 12 marine mammals a day. Most are rehabilitated and returned to the wild, but a few cannot be released for various reasons.

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