Police are still looking for a sea lion that was stolen in the early morning on December 29 from a marine theme park in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province.

 

The 2-year-old male sea lion which was introduced from Uruguay in 2004, is valued at about 150,000 yuan (US$19,200) and performed in at Lanzhou Sea World, according to Qu Changqing, manager of the park's exhibition hall.

 

The chief officer of the Wuquan Police Station in the area where the park is located, surnamed Wang, confirmed the search was still continuing.

 

On January 2, the West Business News, a local newspaper, received a phone call from a man who refused to give his name but said the sea lion "might be stolen by an employee of the Sea World for one of the shareholders".

 

The two people who have invested in the park are involved in economic disputes.

 

According to the West Business News, the man said he used to keep, train and provide medical treatment for the sea lion and knew the animal is ferocious and would bite strangers. Its bark is louder than a dog's.

 

However, manager Qu disagreed with the caller, saying none of his employees would steal it.

 

Police would not comment on the information the man provided to the West Business News.

 

Sea World employees said visitation ends at 6 pm each day. After that, the door is locked and there's a person on duty inside the building.

 

"The employee on duty saw the sea lion sleeping at about 2 am on December 29, and later he found the animal disappeared. There was no apparent sound," Qu said.

 

The biggest thing that concerns Qu right now, he said, is that sea lions' eyes must be wetted with sea water, otherwise they would go blind.

 

"I thought the animal might die since it left sea water for so many days," said Qu.

 

The sea lion has not been found yet and the search continues.

 

(China Daily January 10, 2007)