A young sea lion, which was rescued from a San Francisco highway, is being treated and is recovering from its perilous journey inland. The undernourished marine mammal was found close to Fort Funston National Park, over 1,000 feet away from the ocean. Two people found the pup, while it pulled itself climbing through bushes.

A national park ranger, Matt Wallat aided in the rescue of the animal. They first tried to put the animal into a plastic tote bag; however, the scared animal declined. Wallat finally wrapped the animal in blankets to prevent biting and then cautiously put the animal in the bag for transport to medical care.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) managers wrote on their Instagram account that because of the help of two good Samaritans and park ranger Wallat, the sea lion pup was protected from harm.

Sea lions, particularly young pups, are dying along the west coast of the United States. Biologists are not getting why this is happening. According to some researchers, increasing temperatures are making fish swim deeper in oceans than normal. They believe that increase in temperature also keep mothers away from their offspring for long durations.

"These pups come in very underweight, and malnourished. Just in the last 10 days, we've gotten 100 pups in. Normally during this time of year, we shouldn't see any sea lion pups at all because they should be nursing in the Channel Islands", Yvette Koth of the Marine Mammal Center said.

Such mass strandings of young sea lions have now occurred three years one after the other and more than 1,500 of the animals came ashore during the event in 2013. Veterinarians at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California, are looking after the animal, together with 100 other members of the species.