A sea lion found malnourished with a bullet embedded in its head in Southern California in August is recovering well after undergoing surgery to remove one of its eyes, animal care officials announced Monday, Sept. 29.

"Rocky," a subadult California sea lion, was in bad shape when a rescuer found him in Malibu and brought him to the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles for help on Aug. 26, according to the organization.

"In addition to being malnourished, Rocky had an obvious injury to his left eye as well as several small lacerations on his abdomen and a puncture wound on one of his hind flippers," MMCC said in a written statement . "During his intake exam, our veterinary experts confirmed that Rocky’s eye had ruptured, and X-rays revealed a bullet in his head."

It was not clear how

See Full Page