{"id":8450,"date":"2026-05-03T05:43:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T04:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/?p=8450"},"modified":"2026-05-03T05:43:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T04:43:54","slug":"crowds-flock-to-see-chonkers-the-enormous-sea-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/?p=8450","title":{"rendered":"Crowds flock to see Chonkers the enormous sea lion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A huge <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/us\/news\/2024\/08\/23\/sea-lions-take-over-california-beach-monterey\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:sea lion;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">sea lion<\/a> nicknamed Chonkers has become a major tourist attraction in the US, drawing crowds from across the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The portly sea lion, which weighs more than 2,000lbs, has been delighting visitors at <a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2024\/05\/01\/sea-lions-swarm-pier-san-francisco\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:San Francisco\u2019s Pier 39;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">San Francisco\u2019s Pier 39<\/a>, a shopping centre with a promenade full of the animals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Americans seem to have become obsessed with Chonkers, whose nickname is based on a slang expression for being cute and fat in equal measure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI am looking for the big one. I am looking for Chonkers,\u201d one devotee of the sea lion told a local news channel as she arrived at Pier 39.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Another woman said she had taken a day off especially to see Chonkers show off for the cameras on the pier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI saw the news about Chonkers in Atlanta, Georgia, and I came all the way to San Francisco to see him,\u201d said a third woman, who had travelled more than 2,400 miles.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Chonkers is delighting visitors who come to see him at San Francisco&amp;#39;s Pier 39\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"600\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/oButfULFG5jnpgoTUT.aXA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYwMDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/the_telegraph_258\/bdc49765a5d60bf644a8d7dba1bbe12e\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Chonkers is delighting visitors who come to see him at San Francisco\u2019s Pier 39 &#8211; AP\/Haven Daley<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Chonkers is one of several sea lions regularly spotted at Pier 39. The mammals are more typically found in the colder waters of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">According to CBS News, sea lions usually weigh between 900 to 2,000lbs, meaning Chonkers is very much at the extreme end of the scale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">However, there is no suggestion that crowds at Pier 39 are fat-shaming the sea lion \u2013 on the contrary, they seem delighted with how comfortable he seems to be in his own skin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-yga=\"{\" ylinkelement=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/customer\/subscription\/store\/us\/?ICID=yahoo_article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b>Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A huge sea lion nicknamed Chonkers has become a major tourist attraction in the US, drawing crowds from across the country. The portly sea lion, which weighs more than 2,000lbs, has been delighting visitors at San Francisco\u2019s Pier 39, a shopping centre with a promenade full of the animals. Americans seem to have become obsessed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13656,9466,175,9968,2666,13659,13370,13654,889,13372,13652,13657,13371,13651,13655,7000,13653,6701,688,820,2436,2844,4530,1754,13661,3508,1933,67,66,13378,13658,13660,547,11185,5251,13662,2443,1800,1700,271],"class_list":["post-8450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets-news","tag-000lbs","tag-americans","tag-animals","tag-attraction","tag-based","tag-centre","tag-chonkers","tag-chonkers-enormous","tag-country","tag-crowds","tag-crowds-flock","tag-delighting","tag-drawing","tag-enormous","tag-enormous-sea","tag-flock","tag-flock-chonkers","tag-francisco","tag-full","tag-huge","tag-lion","tag-lions","tag-major","tag-news","tag-nickname","tag-nicknamed","tag-obsessed","tag-pe-ts-fun","tag-pets-news","tag-pier","tag-portly","tag-promenade","tag-sea","tag-sea-lion","tag-shopping","tag-slang","tag-tourist","tag-visitors","tag-weighs","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}