Sea lion's star role at Mystic Aquarium

May 11, 2008

Talk about a creature with a high profile.

Astro, the orphaned Steller sea lion rescued off the coast of California in 2006, has a new home at Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Conn.

If Astro seems familiar, here's why - he was rescued just after birth and nursed to health by the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif. Since then, he's become so attached to humans he's bucked three separate attempts to return him to sea - each time swimming back to shore, waddling up to the beach and basking in lots of publicity.

After rescuers determined Astro was unlikely to ever take to life outside of captivity, he was moved to the Mystic Aquarium, where he swims and frolics with other sea lions in a pool that's open to visitor observation.