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Sea lion visits flooded parking lot in Duncan

A sea lion sighting in a flooded Duncan parking lot has raised several questions for residents.
Sea lion in Somenos Marsh
A screen grab from a video of a sea lion in Somenos Marsh in Duncan, by Rhonda L Vertefeuille.

A sea lion sighting in a flooded Duncan parking lot has raised several questions for residents.

Among them: What’s it doing all the way out here? And: How did it get here?

The sea lion was spotted swimming through a lot near the Somenos Marsh Conservation Area, next to the Trans-Canada Highway.

It’s nowhere near the ocean — roughly seven kilometres from Cowichan Bay, the closest saltwater bay, via the highway, which the large sea mammal probably didn’t take to the marsh.

Or did it? How else did it get so far inland? And what was it doing there? There’s a Canadian Tire nearby. Maybe it needed a new paring knife?

More than likely, it just followed one of the new waterways created by recent flooding in the area.

The marsh area was among the spots flooded by a deluge of rain that prompted flood warnings and advisories throughout Vancouver Island.

According to Rhonda Vertefeuille of Youbou, who spotted the creature, the sea lion swam up to the estuary entrance before turning back toward open water — but not before she captured video of the curious sighting.

By Thursday, the video [link] had been viewed more than 56,000 times.