Police Kept Getting Calls About A Strange 'Sea Creature', Then They Did A Little Digging
You hear about monsters lurking in murky lakes or slimy bogs, but never in Broad Cove, the peaceful waters located in Wareham, Massachusetts. Known as the "gateway to Cape Cod," the most threatening thing in Wareham's Broad Cove were rambunctious tourists...until one early October morning, when dozens of calls suddenly came in to the police station. Every shaken caller said the same thing: Something weird was happening in Broad Cove.
The Monster of Broad Cove
It’s a shark! It’s a seal! It’s a...mysterious sea creature that people in Massachusetts can’t stop freaking out about! For one man, the story of the strange creature lurking in Broad Cove began with an alarming phone call...and another...and another.
Early-Morning Calls
“I started receiving calls on my personal phone around 6:30 AM,” said Garry Buckminster (left), the director of the Department of Natural Resources in Wareham. Typically, Buckminster only received personal calls if there was an emergency.
Eye-Witness Accounts
This made what he heard when he answered the phone all the more confusing. All of the stories started out differently: One fisherman was casting his first line; a man was on his morning jog down the shoreline; a couple was walking their dog down the beach when all of a sudden...
Wild Creature
All these stories ended with the same strange sighting: a creature wildly splashing around in the water. There was something odd about the way the creature moved, and it immediately caught the eyes of everyone who happened to see it.
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Something's Wrong Here
The jerky movements of the creature made the witnesses feel uneasy. What if it had accidentally ended up in the cove and was stranded there? What if it was injured and struggling to survive? What if it desperately needed help?
Dialing 9-1-1
Whatever was going on with the creature, it certainly didn’t look like it was on a calming morning swim. One concerned witness thought it looked like an injured seal, so they immediately called 9-1-1. Another person, scared it was a shark, also dialed 9-1-1.
Chaotic Hotline
Within minutes of the sighting, Buckminster’s own phone started to ring with details about these bizarre sightings. The fact that his personal phone was getting emergency calls meant that the police department was getting inundated with non-stop emergency calls themselves.
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Panic at the Beach
Eager to figure out what was going on at Broad Cove (and for the phone to stop ringing), Buckminster dispatched two DNR officers to begin a search of the cove. Meanwhile, his phone and the police line kept ringing off the hook, all because of concerned beachgoers.
Pleading With The Public
The unprecedented influx of calls about this weird creature started to overwhelm the DNR department, so Buckminster pleaded with the community on Facebook to stop calling them. “It’s important to keep the police dispatch free for potential emergencies,” he said.
To The Rescue
But all the witnesses were adamant: This strange creature in the water did count as an emergency, not only because it was unidentifiable, but because it seemed to be in distress. Thankfully, the two DNR officers arrived at the scene just in time.
"Flopping Dorsal Fin"
What they saw was much different from what the witnesses saw. Whereas the passersby saw an agitated shark or injured seal, the DNR officers saw a “flopping dorsal fin” moving swiftly through the cove. They immediately knew what the fin belonged to.
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Finally Figuring It Out
A search of the area confirmed the officers’ suspicions: There were no seals around, so the claim that it was an injured seal was incorrect. There also weren’t any sharks in the water. So what was it that made all these people frantically call 9-1-1?
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Bizarre Details
“The dorsal fin was immediately identified as belonging to a sunfish,” a representative from the DNR told Today. This bizarre-looking sea creature had an equally-bizarre story behind it, one Buckminster was more than happy to share on Facebook.
"The sunfish is FINE."
First, the DNR assured the community that they were “aware of a sunfish in Broad Cove.” Then, they succinctly updated everyone on the condition of the creature. “[It’s] swimming. It is not stranded or suffering. The sunfish is FINE.”
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Dozens Of Calls Later...
After their hectic morning fielding dozens of phone calls from concerned citizens, the DNR couldn’t help but poke fun at the community. “Don’t be jealous just because it’s not swimming weather anymore!” they added before pleading with the community one last time.
Starting To Beg
“PLEASE STOP CALLING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT ABOUT THIS SUNFISH!!” they begged. Departmental annoyance aside, randomly spotting a creature as weird-looking as a sunfish in the water would freak anyone out. After all, their weight alone is staggering.
This Sunfish Is Unique
One of the heaviest bony fishes in the world, it makes sense why sunfish, which can grow to 11 feet long and weigh up to 5,000 pounds, are often mistaken for sharks. That said, this particular sunfish in Broad Cove was a little different from the average specimen.
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Hitchhiking Sunfish
The sunfish in Broad Cove was on the smaller side, since it weighed approximately 150-250 pounds. According to the DNR, sunfish usually eat “fish larvae, squid, and crustaceans” — so how exactly did this squid-eating creature end up in the relatively shallow waters of Broad Cove?
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Need Some Assistance
“With the large tides we have been having mixed with the impending migration to warmer wintering ground, sunfish sometimes end up in tricky areas and are in need of some human intervention,” according to the DNR. Luckily, this wasn’t necessary.
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No More Early Morning Calls!
“There [were] no signs of stranding or [of] the fish being in distress,” the DNR asserted. “We are happy to report that it appears the sunfish has left Broad Cove.” No one was happier to see the sunfish go on its merry way than definitely-not-a-morning-person Buckminster.
Swept Away
It probably won’t be the last time a sunfish finds itself in Broad Cove. Ocean currents sweep many unsuspecting creatures in odd directions, landing them in unexpected places...including land. When a Washington police officer got a call from a concerned citizen, he immediately knew something was wrong.
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Strange Story
Well, not wrong, exactly — just out of place. “It just doesn’t sound right,” said Troy Brightbill, the chief criminal deputy at the sheriff’s office. When he first heard the strange story called in by a truck driver, he was skeptical at best.
"Feline"?
Dispatchers had trouble understanding the driver’s story. Someone made a wrong turn? Were they hurt? Did they need an ambulance? “I’m sorry,” dispatchers told the stunned good samaritan, unsure if they’d heard him correctly. Had he said “feline?”
No Ordinary Feline
No, the driver asserted. Something far bigger than a cat was in the middle of the road, and when the dispatchers finally understood what he was seeing, they immediately alerted the authorities...and Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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Roaring In The Dark
When police arrived on the scene, they heard the weirdest sound yet: roaring. How on earth did a lion end up in Castle Rock? That’s when they saw where the sound was coming from, and though the creature was missing a wild mane of hair, it definitely had whiskers.
Wandering Sea Lion?!
In the middle of the road was a sea lion. As the authorities looked on with shock, the sea lion waddled from one side of the road to the other, roaring and barking all the while. For the wildlife officers, three things were certain right from that first glance.
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Far From Home
The sea lion was female, around 600-700 pounds, and clearly lost. Still, the weirdest part for Scott Schroeder, one of the responding wildlife officers, was the location. He described the landscape as a “rolling, forested” area — not exactly a sea lion’s usual haunt.
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Delicate Situation
But the authorities couldn’t focus on the “why” of it all just then. They had to figure out how the heck they’d get this enormous sea lion back where she belonged without her hurting them or them hurting her.
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In Uncharted Territory
Unfortunately, “sea lion wrangling” isn’t exactly covered at the police academy. The road they were all gathered on was dark, winding, and surrounded by thick woods. If an officer got too close, her small barks turned into a much scarier sound.
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Her Unexpected Skill
Bone-chilling roars. “She was very aggressive,” Schroeder said of the alarmed animal. “If you got within 20 feet of her, she would go after you.” And to make matters worse, the authorities were quickly picking up on the sea lion’s most unexpected skill.
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"Full of Spit and Vinegar"
She was fast. “As we’ve learned, they’re fairly mobile on land,” Brightbill said. Schroeder said the sea lion would lunge “like an alligator” at anyone who got too close. “She was certainly full of spit and vinegar,” he described...until she revealed another surprising trait.
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Fickle Feline
“There’s no other way to say it,” Schroeder declared. “They’re fairly cute animals.” It couldn’t be denied, even to the shaken authorities, that the sea lion looked good on camera. She actually posed for a selfie with Sgt. Corey Huffine! One thing was clear to the officers.
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She Needed Help
No matter how threatening she was, they wouldn’t be able to wrangle her back to the water anytime that night. They hoped that monitoring her overnight while she waddled her way back to the water would be the extent of their involvement...but they were wrong.
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Weary Traveler
The police received another 911 call, and then another. “The problem was it just kept moving,” Brightbill said. She kept moving alright, just not towards the Columbia river, where she came from. By the time the other officers found her, she was two miles from home.
Avengers, Assemble!
They couldn’t just sit and stare at her any longer — they needed backup. By Sunday afternoon, crews from the humane society, the county’s public works office, the state wildlife department, and the sheriff’s office had all arrived...and with one unified plan.
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Intrepid Mission
Their mission? To corral the animal all the way back to the river. The abundance of smelt in the Columbia river made it a popular home for hundreds of sea lions. It was imperative that this wayward sea lion make her way home — and they could only get her there if they worked together.
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Creative Thinking
This was easier said than done. The team used large planks of wood to lead the jumpy sea lion in the right direction, making sure to keep their distance if she got frustrated. “I think everybody had a face full of sea lion breath more than once,” Shroeder described.
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Slow and Steady...
Sea lion breath or not, the mission finally had a lucky break when the sea lion found herself in someone’s driveway. The crews grabbed their wooden plank shields and, as carefully and non-threateningly as possible, slowly guided her towards the cage.
Veering Off Course
The crews worked slowly in hopes that doing so would keep the sea lion from lashing out. She inched closer and closer to the cage, and for a moment, the authorities could almost taste victory...until she suddenly veered off course.
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Caged (Sea)Lion
But as quickly as she’d turned, she was right back where they wanted her to be: Inside the cage. Finally, the sea lion was off the road and out of harm’s way. But the police couldn't relax just yet.
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Finally Home
With the sea lion in tow, the crews drove to Willow Grove boat ramp in Longview, where they returned her to the Columbia River. Schroeder, Brightbill, and the other crew members watched her swim away with just one thought.
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Lost and Scared
They knew that the tale of the lost sea lion and her perplexed rescuers would go down as one of the most bizarre — and adorable! — happenings in Castle Rock. Surprisingly, though, many critters find themselves lost in quiet towns like Castle Rock.
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