The California sea lion cub Kyukkyu is seen after she was rescued from drainage at Osaka Tennoji Zoo in the city of Osaka. (Photo courtesy of the zoo)

OSAKA -- A sea lion cub at Osaka Tennoji Zoo that was missing for four days was found in drainage at the facility on Oct. 1.

According to the municipal zoo in western Japan, Kyukkyu, a female 3-month-old California sea lion, vanished from a pool holding eight sea lions at around 11 a.m. of Sept. 27.

Zookeepers released water from the pool to look for Kyukkyu and confirmed that a 30-centimeter wide outlet cover had been displaced. They searched around the drainage for the 80-centimeter long cub and on the morning on Oct. 1, a staff member heard a cry from a drain pipe near the pool. Kyukkyu was rescued and was apparently in a healthy state.

(Japanese original by Tatsuki Noda, Osaka City News Department)