Baseball season is in full swing, and there's a new San Francisco giant that has been a home run with local residents — but he's never stepped foot on a field.
The Bay Area's newest resident is a massive 2,000-pound sea lion named Chonkers, who has been sunbathing on the docks of the city's famous Pier 39 for the past month.
Chonkers is a Steller sea lion, and he is about three times the size of the California sea lions usually found chilling around Pier 39. Steller sea lions are typically found in the North Pacific, near Washington state and Alaska, but sometimes make their way as far south as Central California.
Laura Gill, who is the public programs manager at the Marine Mammal Center, has been tracking Chonkers since March 13, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gill's explanation of why Chonkers has traveled this far south is pretty simple: "There's just a lot of food right now," she said.
WSJ posted a video on X of the "2,000-pound beast" thrusting his massive body out of the water and slamming down onto the dock, forcing two smaller sea lions into the water. The video then cuts to moments later, after Chonkers had settled himself on the dock, with his head held proudly in the air, as if to say, "This dock is mine, and there's nothing you can do about it."
A runaway sea lion is squatting in San Francisco and locals can't get enough of the 2,000-pound beast they call Chonkers. https://t.co/MgLrCHmw39 pic.twitter.com/FT2XMJupVJ
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 27, 2026
As Chonkers made his way onto the dock, the structure dipped down into the water. Even with other sea lions sunbathing on the dock, it's heavily slanted toward Chonkers.
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"We didn't build those floats for 2,000-pound animals," said Sheila Chandor, harbormaster for the Pier 39 marina.
While it's not uncommon for Steller sea lions to make their way to Pier 39, it is rare that one would stay for as long as Chonkers has made it his home. Chandor added, "We're a pit stop, that's how we saw ourselves."
Chonkers has been delighting San Francisco locals and visitors, with people posting on Reddit whenever they see him lounging on the docks.
One person commented on the WSJ's X post, saying, "Chonkers has become the city's unlikely celebrity, and his charm is impossible to ignore." And even though it is baseball season, another commenter gave him a nickname from another sport: "Shaquille O'Seal."
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