We’ve heard tales of animals taking a walk on the tame side and frequenting human businesses before, but usually we’re talking about bears, more bears, deer, more deer, and other strictly land animals. Things are a bit different in San Diego, where a hungry sea lion pup eschewed the surf and took a table for herself at a fancy seaside restaurant.

A sea lion pup on the skinny side apparently made her way down a ramp from the beach and went through a door left open by a restaurant cleaning crew, the chef told Reuters.

The staff was amused when the pup climbed into a booth “almost like she wanted to have dinner,” he added.

It’s unclear whether the marine mammal could afford any of the items on the menu at the white table-cloth restaurant, she wasn’t given the chance to put in an order anyway: a rescue team from SeaWorld San Diego arrived to pull the barking pup from the booth and transport it to the theme park for care, a spokesman for the tourist center said.

The pup was malnourished and lethargic, at less than half the normal size for its age, the spokesman said, adding, however, that SeaWorld staff is “guardedly optimistic” they can nurse her back to health and release her into the wild eventually.

Sea lion takes a booth at San Diego restaurant on the beach [Reuters]

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