While we did not pick up any animals yesterday at Monterey Bay Operations, I did have an experience that really, once again, shows how dangerous our job can be. A sea lion was transported up from our Morro Bay facility in the afternoon. It needed to be fed before we transported it along towards the Sausalito hospital.
It was a large 140-plus pounder, about five feet long. Possible domoic acid, and had been treated before it left Morro Bay with anti-seizure meds. Karissa and I got it off the truck with the hand-lift and put it in a pen. It was running around, madly hyper. No seizures, but just going crazy, climbing up the wire walls and standing up on it's rear flippers. Holy Crap, we said, this guy is nuts! The meds didn't slow it down one bit.
We filled a pool with water and got him interested in a fish. Sea lions swallow fish whole, and deftly turn them, with a head toss, so that the head of the fish is swallowed first. Sea lions do not drink water, but instead, get their hydration from the fish they eat. The sea lion (I don't even know its name) eagerly ate the one fish, and I tossed the rest in the pool. He practically inhaled all the fish, and immediately became manic again.
Just as we finished, our transport driver walked up. An early transport had been arranged without us knowing it. We had to turn around and get this maniacal animal right back into a crate! As three of us walked into the pen with the 700 crate and three herding boards, it became immediately apparent that this was going to be difficult and dangerous. This hyper, manic animal got even worse when he went into the flight or fight mode. It was snapping and snarling and biting the fence and the boards, and would have nailed us if he could. He was as strong as a wild horse.
We tried to herd him several times toward the crate. He kept rearing up and breaking thru our boards, one time nearly biting Deb in the butt. I had the board closest to the fence, and was trying to push him along. In an instant, he whirled around and literally climbed up my board. I suddenly had the open mouth (with huge, sharp, pointy teeth) of that sea lion about eight inches from my face. I pushed the board away from me with all my strength. The sea lion was literally standing on its hind flippers, with its entire weight against my board. It was frantically biting the edges of my board. I gritted my teeth and kept it at bay.
Most people do not realize what climbers sea lions are - they can climb up to the top of the highest rock or wall. In the Sausalito facility, a sea lion climbed over an eight-foot fence to get into a pool with another sea lion. No kidding - there are photos of it!
Deb moved in with her board and we got the sea lion horizontal again. We withdrew from the pen, hoping the animal would settle down and calm down. We waited... When we went in again, it made a mad dash into the crate and we quickly got the door on and locked. We loaded it on the truck, and away it went to rendezvous with the driver from Sausalito in Half Moon Bay.
Wow - what an experience. This was the most manic sea lion that I have ever worked with, and seemed even more dangerous than some of the big crested males we have rescued. Or maybe it was just the adrenalin of the moment, facing down a ferocious wild critter.
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