Prospect Park Zoo Welcomes Two New Rescued Sea Lion Pups

The Prospect Park Zoo just got a little cuter, as two rescued California sea lion pups have joined the other resident female sea lions, Stella and Beebe.

The two young female sea lions arrived at the Prospect Park Zoo after being orphaned and stranded off the coast of Point Hueneme, CA. Upon rescue, the pups were brought to Six Flags Vallejo in Ventura County, California for initial care and rehabilitation. They were brought to Prospect Park Zoo on a recommendation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after it was determined they were unlikely to survive in the wild.

The zoo reports that the pups are doing well and learning basic behaviors from the zoo’s animal keepers.

In other citywide sea lion news, two more California sea lions, both adult males, recently came to the Queens Zoo from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of a local wildlife management project in Bonneville, OR; and a female sea lion pup was born at the Bronx Zoo on June 28.

You can visit the new sea lions at the Prospect Park Zoo any day — it’s open Monday-Friday from 10am-5pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am-5:30pm. Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, $5 for kids 3-12, and free for kids under 3. Admission is free for Wildlife Conservation Society members.

Photos by Julie Larsen Maher, Wildlife Conservation Society