They call him Fiddler

A Newport Beach surfer awoke to find a wayward sea lion pup on the roof of his four-story apartment building early Thursday morning.

Animal rescue workers have dubbed the sea lion Fiddler in honor of the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof.�

The animal apparently climbed up four flights of external stairs at an apartment triplex near Seashore Drive and 47th Street before a Newport Beach animal control officer caught him on the roof of the building about 6 a.m.

Newport Beach resident Mike Kai, 27, awoke to barking sounds coming from the roof of his West Newport apartment. At first, Kai thought a friend who frequently wakes him up in the mornings to go and surf had climbed up on top of the roof to get a better view of the waves.

“I go throw some clothes on and walk upstairs and suddenly I’m face to face with a sea lion,� Kai said. “It doesn’t really move, it wasn’t really in a hurry to do anything. It was just kind of hanging out.�

Kai took pictures and captured video of the little sea lion, precariously teetering on the edge of the four-story roof, oblivious to the ground below.

“It was really pretty, active,� Kai said. “It was sliding around — it was kind of just cruising around upstairs, climbing on the railing and sliding down the rails. That’s what woke us up.�

The video and pictures can be viewed on Kai’s blog at www.lifeyo.com/blog.

Kai started calling the pup Andre after a 1994 movie by the same name about a girl and her pet seal, but animal rescue workers later christened him Fiddler.

Fiddler was one of three or four sea lions Newport Beach animal control officers were called to rescue Thursday morning, said police Sgt. Steve Burdette.

Police believe high tides brought the animals ashore.

Fiddler was resting and getting nourishment from a tube at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach on Friday afternoon.

Weighing in at 32 pounds, Fiddler is a little underweight and showed signs of malnourishment, said Dean Gomersall, an animal care supervisor at the marine mammal center. The pup also had a small cut on the left side of his nose.

Fiddler is expected to make a full recovery and should be able to return to the wild in about three months, Gomersall said.

It’s not uncommon for sea lion pups to turn up in unusual spots, animal shelter workers said.

As in the case of Fiddler, workers at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center typically name stray sea lion pups that come under their care after the strange places they are discovered.

“They’re pretty rambunctious animals, and they get stuck in little places,� Gomersall said.