As a rower for UCLA, Logan Hibbard and her teammates see a lot of marine life while practicing in Marina Del Rey. However, on May 13th, she never expected to be the one chosen by a severely malnourished sea lion pup to rescue him. Now known as “Bru”, the sea lion pup is being treated at the Marine Mammal Center in San Pedro, with the hope that he will be grow strong enough to be released back to ocean. I recently spoke with Logan, whose story has received world-wide attention.

“We see lots of marine life at Marina Del Rey where we row. We see sea lions on the daily, but they’re usually adults and normally hanging around the boat docks. We also will occasionally get to see dolphins and I have seen whales twice”. But sea lion pup sightings are rare. “It will sometimes be a rare little treat when we get to see baby sea lions swimming around. We had seen baby sea lions swim around the marina before and get somewhat close to us but never anything like what we experienced with Bru”.

I asked what she first thought when the pup jumped into her boat. “My first thought when Bru jumped in was that I was just so excited that he picked me to be his buddy!”. However, Logan realized Bru wasn’t looking for a friend, he was looking for someone to save him. The pup was the size of a newborn, although his age is approximately between 9 and 11 months.

Interestingly, Hibbard, a Bakersfield, CA native, only began rowing 2 years ago. “I have only been rowing for two years. I was a walk-on at Michigan State as a freshman last year and then I transferred to UCLA this year”, where she’s majoring in European Languages and Transcultural Studies.

Once the sea lion climbed into Hibbard’s lap, most likely to stay warm, according Logan’s mother, Casey, “She remained harmonious because the sea lion was tranquil but once she saw the teeth she realized that if the sea lion bit her that would be bad... so she stayed calm, resisted making any attempts to reach out and touch him.” Logan spoke to the sea lion and “thanked him for choosing her to hang out with on the boat. The sea lion hissed at others making it clear that this baby chose to snuggle with Logan.”

When the team got back to the dock, “Our coaches called the Marine Mammal Center for help as soon as we realized that Bru was not going to come off on his own. I’d say within the first three minutes that he was on my lap”. They carefully got Bru off the boat, but he made no attempt to return to the water, prompting everyone to realize how sick he was.

“The MMC came to get him fairly quickly but we weren’t there when they came because we had to get back to campus to get to classes. The coaches were the ones who stayed and waited for them”.

Logan was given the honor of naming the sea lion, which she decided should be “Bru”, after UCLA’s Bruin mascot. She plans to visit him soon. “I will definitely be visiting him! Many of the girls on the team have talked about doing a team visit as well which I think would be super fun! Everyone seems to really love him”.

You can visit Bru, along with many other rescued marine mammals at The Marine Mammal Center, 3601 S. Gaffey Street, #8, San Pedro, CA., Fridays to Mondays, 10am-4pm. Visitation is free, but the center relies on donations to stay open and care for the animals. Donations can be made here.

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Amy (Barber) Bergant grew up in Rancho Palos Verdes. She attended the University of Southern California, getting her Bachelor of Arts in Communications from The Annenberg School for Journalism, where she was also a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She currently lives in South Redondo Beach with her husband of almost 25 years, twin 14 year old daughters, and their 2 cats, George and Henry. When not chauffering her kids around, she enjoys hanging out with friends, eating good food, listening to great music, watching ridiculous television shows and going to the beach.