A Very Up Close And Personal Look With The Sea Lions At The Fair

PERRY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – If you haven’t checked out the Georgia National Fair at the Perry Fairgrounds yet, take the time to go and watch the Sea Lion Splash exhibit.

With a trio of sea lions, the performance is sure to steal your heart.

While the three are here to entertain, as part of the performance, they also inform.

“What people don’t know,” trainer Gala Rogacheva explains, “sea lions are extremely smart. They’re smarter than dogs.”

Also, despite their calm, and cuddly looking demeanor, sea lions typically are not very affectionate toward people.

“It’s more of a professional relationship with them. They do their trained behaviors, they expect to get paid, in fish. And then they kind of expect you to leave them alone.”

But leaving them alone proved to be too tough a challenge for me. After all, with behaviors like rolling over, hand (er, flipper) stands, and swinging a hula hoop around their necks better than I can around my hips, the three lovely ladies seemed like they were willing to let me in on part of their show.

That’s where it gets personal. Stella, one of the three, wanted to give me a kiss. On the lips. And then again on the cheek. To make good T.V., I let her. (Just don’t tell my wife please).

The Sea Lion Splash runs daily, and is a free show to everyone. Click here for the schedule of times for the shows.