Nick, the sea lion, weighed 700 pounds during his prime, and his bark was just as huge.

When Nick let it rip, his bark could be heard in City Park and the neighborhoods surrounding the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance.

“He was very loud,” said Jake Kubie, a zoo spokesman. “He was very well known.”

Nick’s bark, however, has been silenced. The magnificent sea lion died Thursday while living at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. He had been relocated in 2023 while the Denver Zoo rebuilt its sea lion habitat, which reopened earlier this year. Nick was scheduled to come home this fall, Kubie said.

“It’s been really tough for everybody,” Kubie said.

The cause of Nick’s death is unknown.

The 18-year-old sea lion’s behavior changed recently — not eating and avoiding his caret

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