PITTSBURGH -- A sneaky sea lion at the
Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium managed to escape his enclosure and take a swim with his neighbors on Wednesday.
The only problem is the animal's neighbors are sharks.
Video 
Raw Interview: Sea Lion In Shark Tank According to a news release from the zoo, Seahawk, a 3-year-old male sea lion, had been moved out of the main exhibit area because one of the female sea lions is expecting a pup.
Video: Pittsburgh Sea Lion UltrasoundSeahawk's temporary enclosure is an area near the zoo's sand tiger shark area.
According to keepers, Seahawk jumped onto a high keeper escape wall. He then fell into the keeper escape area, hitting a door handle on the way down, which popped the door open, allowing the young sea lion to take a swim with the sharks.
"It was definitely something we were not expecting," said zoo president Dr. Barbara Baker. "Everyone's first reaction to the radio call was, 'What did they say?'"
Slideshow: Photos Of Pittsburgh's Sea LionsBaker said Seahawk had been in the pool previously, before sharks were part of the exhibit.
"He was actually quite curious, he sort of looked around. But he really didn't know what to do with the sharks."
While visitors might be concerned the sea lion would be in danger from the sharks, Baker said the opposite was actually true.
"We were worried that Hawk might nip at the sharks," Baker said. "The sand tiger sharks had no interest in Hawk at all. They moved to the other side of their pool. None of the animals was hurt or injured."
Baker said staff had previously discussed allowing the sea lions and the sharks, which are from opposite U.S. coasts and don't mingle in the wild, to mingle in an exhibit.
"We decided that probably wouldn't be a good thing," Baker said. "But the sea lion had other ideas."
Once keepers realized what happened, they grabbed buckets of fish to lure Seahawk back to his pool.
Zoo officials said Seahawk was only in the shark tank for a few minutes before returning to his own enclosure.
Seahawk came to the zoo in 2006 after attempts to rehabilitate him to return to the wild failed.
Baker said there will be no more excursions for the animal. The handle on the door Seahawk used has been removed and the keeper wall raised so Seahawk will have to stay put, Baker said.
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