Slowing Down... For Now

The onslaught of starving sea lions seems to have slowed down, and now we are rescuing larger animals that are very ill. I heard recently that marine scientists are estimating that 70% of the sea lion pups died this year. It was a record year for births and also for deaths.

So we get fewer reports lately. Last Monday, we picked up two sea lions, Cliffhangar and Keshawn, but both died at the Sausalito hospital. Yesterday we picked up a 56 kg sea lion from Seacliff Beach, named Soquel, and a 28 kg sea lion from Carmel River Beach, named, what else, Carmel. Both appear to be ill, rather than wounded. Both animals were stranded on a busy beach, and were surrounded by people and dogs.

Normal, healthy sea lions will, like any wild animal, immediately run back into the water when approached by people or dogs. So when these guys stay on the beach, listless and lethargic for hours and hours, we know they are sick. Even the sick guys can put up a huge fight when netted, but that doesn't mean they should not be rescued.

These two animals we picked up yesterday will be transported to the Sausalito hospital today and, hopefully will survive and be returned to the water soon.  But, we received four animals yesterday from the San Luis Obispo facility that had to be transported to the main hospital in Sausalito.

 We do transports in three stages: the MBO (Monterey Bay Operations) volunteer drives down to King City and meets the volunteer from San Luis Obispo with their animal patients, usually exchanging vehicles, and returning with the animals to MBO. Then, in the early evening, an MBO volunteer drives the animals up to Half Moon Bay, meeting a volunteer from the Sausalito facility, and again exchanging vehicles and patients. We are usually short-staffed at MBO, so finding drivers is often a challenge. For several months, I did both north and south legs of the trip on my shift day. But last night, I only did the north leg.

Here is what I posted on Facebook last night:

Did a transport to Half Moon Bay this evening in a stinky sea lion poop van. Drizzle and pea-soup fog in the dark - a gnarly drive back. A 132-mile RT, plus 56 miles back to where I live...