Stay tuned for news about eAhoy. It will change the way you buy and sell forever. Think enlightened self-interest!
http://www.youtube.com/eahoy1
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
ODFW Hazing Sea Lions on the Williamette River
The Oregon Department of Unbelievable Stupidity, under the direction of the powerful Oregon Anglers Association, has now started hazing, harassing, and bombarding the sea lions on the Williamette River. They are slaughtering sea lions on the Columbia River and have been killing the animals for two years. Ignoring the real sources of what they see as a "problem", which are the dams, and thousands of commercial and recreational fisherman, they kill sea lions. Ignoring the fact that the sea lions eat less than 4% of the hundred thousands of salmon, and fisherman take over 18% of them, they demonize and kill the sea lions.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Lotta Lookin' Goin' On
Spent most of the day yesterday looking for animals that were reported on the beaches near Asilomar and the 17 Mile Drive. It sounded like a juvenile elephant seal pup, (or more than one of them), was hauling out on the beach, but returning to the water before we arrived. We searched diligently, hiking along three or four beaches, scanning with my binoculars, but no stranded animals. Which is a very good thing!
It was an absolutely beautiful, sunny day, and the beaches were almost deserted. If there was any good time to haul out on the usually busy, crowded beaches, it certainly was yesterday. No tourists, no locals and no dogs. Just sparkling clear blue sky, all kinds of shore birds, an once, an harbor seal swimming near the rocks, eyeing us and moving on.
So here is a pic of four harbor seals lounging on the rocks at a rookery along 17 Mile Drive. I took this photo when I drove down there last week...
It was an absolutely beautiful, sunny day, and the beaches were almost deserted. If there was any good time to haul out on the usually busy, crowded beaches, it certainly was yesterday. No tourists, no locals and no dogs. Just sparkling clear blue sky, all kinds of shore birds, an once, an harbor seal swimming near the rocks, eyeing us and moving on.
So here is a pic of four harbor seals lounging on the rocks at a rookery along 17 Mile Drive. I took this photo when I drove down there last week...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Ellie Day
Yesterday was an ellie day for us at MBO. We responded to calls about an elephant seal on the beach in Capitola. This animal decided to haul out in the middle of what is usually the beach volleyball court. He (maybe she) lifted his head and snarled as we approached, but was very lethargic. It looked a little thin, and had gummy eyes, which usually indicates dehydration. It showed signs of catastrophic molting, and it also had large, pink, bumpy spots all over its body. Breathing was not normal, very rapid and shallow. It was clear that we needed to pick it up.
We walked back across the beach, climbed over a low restraining wall and went up the stairs to get our gear. Came back and got him in the container pretty easily. Then we lifted the crate - whoah - he weighed more than we thought! We decided to make two trips, so we left the net and herding boards on the beach, and began to carry it to the truck. He became pretty active inside the crate and we grunted and lugged him across the beach, over the wall and started up the stairs. Two gals were on the back, and another gal and I were on the front. We were struggling, pushing and pulling, and lifting. Suddenly, right at my legs and feet, the damn door came open and he started to come out! We couldn't let go and let him fall back down the stairs, and we didn't have our boards anyway. I had on my tall, heavy Muck boots, so I stuck my foot in front of his face while I tried to get the door closed with one hand, holding on to the crate with the other. He opened his mouth and clamped down on my foot!
I knew he didn't have sharp enough teeth to bite thru my boot, but it felt like I had a vice clamping down on my foot. I just let him chew around on my boot till we could safely set the crate down and get the door closed. I didn't want to hurt his mouth or teeth by jerking my foot away. He gnawed away on my boot while we regrouped. He let go and we got the door shut, with great difficulty. Turns out that the latch was defective. What a way to find that out!
So we got him into the truck, and a bystander named him Baby Bubba. Took BB back to the facility, gave him electrolytes and he snoozed away in safety.
Then we got another call about an ellie on the beach near Bird Rock off 17-mile drive. We headed down there and found a another big ole ellie who was near the rocks in a somewhat secluded location. He looked very fit and healthy, and not an animal that needed to be picked up. We will put this guy on watch, and I hope crews from the other days will check it out. and make sure it does not get harassed by people and dogs.
(This is a mirror post of my www.sealiongal.blogspot.com)
Monday, November 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sea Lions With Personality
Sometimes we have a sea lion who just seems to have a personality, and just connects with the volunteers at an emotional level. This guy, named Joshnees Bay, is a re-strand. He was picked up once before and released in September. He was picked up on Sunday on a local beach, obviously in distress. While he is really a big guy, probably 250+ pounds and over five feet long, he is still underweight, with bony hips and spine. He has some deep gashes on his body that may be infected, and he sure does not feel good. However, he does have an appetite and scarfs up the fish as fast as he can. He is just beginning to show the initial signs of his head crest.
The thing about him is his soulful eyes. He is very calm, and just watches you with such a look in his eyes. Now, our job is to rescue, rehabilitate and release. We do not anthropomorphize nor make pets out of these wild animals. We minimize human contact, so they will not become habituated to humans. We do not become attached to these guys, but every once in a while, a sea lion comes along that is noticible and memorable. We will remember their name, hoping they survive to be released. We look up their status on the TMMC website, and hope they do not show up on the weekly update of deceased animals.
So we sent Joshnees Bay up to Sausalito on the evening transport. We wish him well and hope the Ocean Gods will look after him...
The thing about him is his soulful eyes. He is very calm, and just watches you with such a look in his eyes. Now, our job is to rescue, rehabilitate and release. We do not anthropomorphize nor make pets out of these wild animals. We minimize human contact, so they will not become habituated to humans. We do not become attached to these guys, but every once in a while, a sea lion comes along that is noticible and memorable. We will remember their name, hoping they survive to be released. We look up their status on the TMMC website, and hope they do not show up on the weekly update of deceased animals.
So we sent Joshnees Bay up to Sausalito on the evening transport. We wish him well and hope the Ocean Gods will look after him...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
This Job is Dangerous - No Joke!
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Domoic Acid Slams Sea Lions
Drove down to Morro Bay to work with the Marine Mammal Center's San Luis Obispo Operations on Saturday and Sunday, and then drove back Sunday night to work my usual Monday shift at the Monterey Bay Operations facility. In both locations, the rescues that we did appeared to be sea lions with domoic acid symptoms. These were large, older animals, rather than the hundreds of young, emaciated sea lions that we have rescued since May 1st.
While I am no expert, my understanding is that domoic acid is a biotoxin that is produced under certain conditions by agal blooms. Phytoplankton feeders like anchovies and sardines ingest the this biotoxin and, in turn, it is ingested by the sea lions. Domoic acid causes neurological damage, particularly to the hippocampus. The affected sea lions are disoriented and can have seizures. Humans can also have domoic poisoning if they ingest shellfish containing this biotoxin.
My guess is that the effect on the hippocampus is what accounts for the sea lions that wander onto freeways and parking lots. Or like the poor little guy who we found in a Watsonville lettuce field about three miles from the ocean. He died - the farmworkers said he had been wandering around the fields for two or three days and they didn't know who to call. Very, very sad sight.
While I am no expert, my understanding is that domoic acid is a biotoxin that is produced under certain conditions by agal blooms. Phytoplankton feeders like anchovies and sardines ingest the this biotoxin and, in turn, it is ingested by the sea lions. Domoic acid causes neurological damage, particularly to the hippocampus. The affected sea lions are disoriented and can have seizures. Humans can also have domoic poisoning if they ingest shellfish containing this biotoxin.
My guess is that the effect on the hippocampus is what accounts for the sea lions that wander onto freeways and parking lots. Or like the poor little guy who we found in a Watsonville lettuce field about three miles from the ocean. He died - the farmworkers said he had been wandering around the fields for two or three days and they didn't know who to call. Very, very sad sight.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Baby Northern Fur Seal - So Far From Home
Yesterday we rescued our first Northern Fur Seal of the season. A man called early in the day, reporting what he thought was a harbor seal pup on a fairly isolated beach north of Wilder Ranch, which is north of Santa Cruz. There was reluctance to send out a crew to check it out. We had three trucks onsite and six volunteers, plenty of people to drive up there. But, sometimes, reports are trivialized by people who want to wait for a second caller, or say, "Oh, its probably just an elephant seal moulting", without really going there and actually seeing what is going on.
So we were told to contact the reporting party to get more information, but couldn't reach him. Then, we had a call that one of our volunteers in Santa Cruz had picked up an entangled sea lion and we needed to drive to Santa Cruz to transfer it to our truck. Three of us headed out, picked up the sea lion, and then made a unanimous decision and headed up to Wilder Ranch.
North of the Ranger Station, dirt roads wander through farmlands and overlook several beaches at the bottom of cliffs. Small, rugged trails lead down to several somewhat isolated beaches. Only authorized vehicles are allowed on the tiny dirt roads, so it is only hikers and cyclists that are seen.
The day was windy and cold, with blowing sand. We stopped often to look with my binoculars over the edge and down to the beach. We slowly drove all the way down to the beach across from Long Marine Lab, turned the truck around in a tiny wide spot and started slowly back. A new volunteer said that she thought she might have spotted something a ways back, but hadn't said anything.We went to that location, and sure enough, a little black spot that looked like it was a rock or burned piece of wood was lying alone on the beach.
Looking through my binoculars, I said, "OMG, I think that is a fur seal." Impossible? It is way too early and way too far from their usual habitat. Here is what the Marine Mammal Center says about Northern Fur Seals:
RANGE/HABITAT: The full range of the northern fur seal extends throughout the Pacific rim from Japan to the Channel Islands of California, although the main breeding colonies are in the Pribilof and Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. Smaller rookeries (breeding grounds) exist on the Kuril Islands North of Japan, Robben Island in the Sea of Okhotsk, and on San Miguel Island off Southern California. Northern fur seals live almost all of the time in the open ocean, and only use certain offshore islands for pupping and breeding. They rarely come ashore except during these times, and are almost never seen on mainland beaches unless they are sick.
We quickly got our gear unloaded and scrambled down the rocky trail. The tide was coming in and we dared not lose the little guy. Cristi took the net and I took the herding board. Karisa, on her first day, observed. I crept between the animal and the water. Cristi slowly crept up on the animal from behind, and quickly got the net over his head. He came to life, snarling and trying to escape. He was so tiny that he was lost in the net. We got the crate and put the opening of the net in front of the door.
I just kept bunching up and pulling loose parts of the net to try to get the little guy in. There was too much netting. So I just reached thru the net and got it by the scruff of the neck and put it in the crate. These little guys are biters - they are quick. The have lots of sharp teeth, and can turn their head in an instant to bite you bigtime. But I got him in and fastened the door.
Karisa and I carried him up over the rocks and loose, slippery dirt trail, and secured the crate in truck. We headed back with an unexpected, endangered species: a Northern Fur Seal.
The little guy weighed in at 5.9 kgs, hardly more than birth weight. About the size of a cat. We named him Believe It. A comment on the crap we have to go thru sometimes to just go out and check on a reported animal.
Believe It was put in a quiet, isolated spot. These animals stress out easily, and can die from it. With their thick fur, they can also overheat easily. With instructions from the vet staff in Sausalito, Marina and I gently tube fed a tiny amount of formula, and gave it a sub-cue of electrolytes. It will go up to TMMC today. I hope that the Ocean Gods will smile on Believe It, and it will survive to swim again in the ocean.
Follow the link to The Marine Mammal center to learn more about The Northern Fur Seal http://tinyurl.com/yzzpagg
So we were told to contact the reporting party to get more information, but couldn't reach him. Then, we had a call that one of our volunteers in Santa Cruz had picked up an entangled sea lion and we needed to drive to Santa Cruz to transfer it to our truck. Three of us headed out, picked up the sea lion, and then made a unanimous decision and headed up to Wilder Ranch.
North of the Ranger Station, dirt roads wander through farmlands and overlook several beaches at the bottom of cliffs. Small, rugged trails lead down to several somewhat isolated beaches. Only authorized vehicles are allowed on the tiny dirt roads, so it is only hikers and cyclists that are seen.
The day was windy and cold, with blowing sand. We stopped often to look with my binoculars over the edge and down to the beach. We slowly drove all the way down to the beach across from Long Marine Lab, turned the truck around in a tiny wide spot and started slowly back. A new volunteer said that she thought she might have spotted something a ways back, but hadn't said anything.We went to that location, and sure enough, a little black spot that looked like it was a rock or burned piece of wood was lying alone on the beach.
Looking through my binoculars, I said, "OMG, I think that is a fur seal." Impossible? It is way too early and way too far from their usual habitat. Here is what the Marine Mammal Center says about Northern Fur Seals:
RANGE/HABITAT: The full range of the northern fur seal extends throughout the Pacific rim from Japan to the Channel Islands of California, although the main breeding colonies are in the Pribilof and Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. Smaller rookeries (breeding grounds) exist on the Kuril Islands North of Japan, Robben Island in the Sea of Okhotsk, and on San Miguel Island off Southern California. Northern fur seals live almost all of the time in the open ocean, and only use certain offshore islands for pupping and breeding. They rarely come ashore except during these times, and are almost never seen on mainland beaches unless they are sick.
We quickly got our gear unloaded and scrambled down the rocky trail. The tide was coming in and we dared not lose the little guy. Cristi took the net and I took the herding board. Karisa, on her first day, observed. I crept between the animal and the water. Cristi slowly crept up on the animal from behind, and quickly got the net over his head. He came to life, snarling and trying to escape. He was so tiny that he was lost in the net. We got the crate and put the opening of the net in front of the door.
I just kept bunching up and pulling loose parts of the net to try to get the little guy in. There was too much netting. So I just reached thru the net and got it by the scruff of the neck and put it in the crate. These little guys are biters - they are quick. The have lots of sharp teeth, and can turn their head in an instant to bite you bigtime. But I got him in and fastened the door.
Karisa and I carried him up over the rocks and loose, slippery dirt trail, and secured the crate in truck. We headed back with an unexpected, endangered species: a Northern Fur Seal.
The little guy weighed in at 5.9 kgs, hardly more than birth weight. About the size of a cat. We named him Believe It. A comment on the crap we have to go thru sometimes to just go out and check on a reported animal.
Believe It was put in a quiet, isolated spot. These animals stress out easily, and can die from it. With their thick fur, they can also overheat easily. With instructions from the vet staff in Sausalito, Marina and I gently tube fed a tiny amount of formula, and gave it a sub-cue of electrolytes. It will go up to TMMC today. I hope that the Ocean Gods will smile on Believe It, and it will survive to swim again in the ocean.
Follow the link to The Marine Mammal center to learn more about The Northern Fur Seal http://tinyurl.com/yzzpagg
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
An Impossible Rescue Accomplished
Impossible? A disoriented, dehydrated sea lion, about five feet long and almost 150 pounds, was stranded at the top of a 12 foot high, craggy rock outcropping at Point Pinos. The first report was on Sunday, and a volunteer went out to check on it. It was inaccessible due to high tides.
We went out on Monday morning and again, it was high tide. We checked the tides chart and 6 pm was low tide. Vicky, Jim, Maren and I headed out to Pacific Grove about 4:30 pm. The animal was still there, shifting around, peering over the edge, but obviously unable to get down. It was exhibiting some abnormal behavioral symptoms. It would surely die up there from dehydration or the sea gulls.
We took two big nets, our boards, a 700 size crate and poles to carry the crate back and headed down. There was a little bit of sandy beach, but mostly wet, slimy rocks. Kelp and mussels covered the rocks and boulders. The tall rock "island" was about 50 yards from the parking lot. The front, visible to the parking lot, was rough and craggy with sharp boulders. I walked around to the ocean side of the outcropping, underwater except at low tide, which was soggy wet with pools of water. On that side, there were mostly slabs of rock at the top and middle, with rough boulders at the bottom. It looked to me like it offered the least hazardous descent to the sea lion. However, if frightened and panicked, it could jump off anywhere in the 360-degree radius from the pointed top of the rock.
The four of us spent quite a bit of time discussing options. The sea lion wasn't going anywhere, and we had about an hour before the tide started rising. We all agreed that if we left it there and called it "inaccessible" on the report, it would surely die. We knew there was a risk of it jumping off onto the rocks and injuring itself as we tried to net it. But, we have observed hundreds of sea lions, and this one looked too unable to move quickly or to jump. There is really no way to predict the behavior of a wild animal.
We devised a strategy. I suggested we send one volunteer up the front side of the rocks with a board to intimidate the sea lion to not go down the front way. Maren said she would climb up. Jim stood on the side of the rock away from the water and held the tall net up against that side, so the sea lion might think that way was blocked. Vicky took the other net, and I took a board, and we went around to the back side. We wanted the sea lion to slide down the flat boulders. Vicky would net it, and I would keep it from escaping into the water if she missed her first try. We were stumbling around on the slick rocks and trying to find a solid position for our feet.
When we were all in position, we gave Maren the word and she started climbing up. The sea lion saw her, but didn't move. She moved slowly and cautiously up closer. The sea lion was looking around for a way down, but still didn't move. This creeping up took a long time, but soon, she was right up on the top with him, board in front of her. The sea lion was totally non-aggressive, and also wouldn't move.
It became clear that this animal was not going to come down on its own. Time to change the strategy. We moved Jim over where we were, and both he and Vicky went to the bottom of the rock, right under the sea lion. Vicky would net it, over it's head, and Jim had his net ready to catch it as it slid down. I was right there, with board ready. OK... Go!
Vicky threw that net perfectly, up so high, and the net went right over it. The sea lion started sliding down, and there was Jim, who bagged it so perfectly that it never even fell hard on the ground. On the beach, it began to struggle and I got my board placed so it didn't head into the rocks, where it could have escaped in the crevices between the rocks.
It was a tough struggle to get it into the crate. The only wide spot to drag the crate opening was behind the animal. It basically was like a 150-pound limp, stuffed animal. We pushed and pulled, and slipped on the rocks and grunted and sweated, trying to get it in the crate. There was no place we could get any leverage. Finally, Jim was able to lift the animal's butt into the crate, and get it's flippers tucked in so they would not be injured. Finally, we got it in and got the door closed and secured.
Ran the poles thru the four rope hangers and... uuugh... it was sooo heavy! We slipped and stumbled and inched our way through the water and slime, hanging onto the poles, one of us on each corner. We could only carry it about three or four feet at a time. We finally got it around the rock and onto the beach. Two or three on-lookers came down and helped us carry it to the truck. I can't tell you how grateful we are when people help us carry the animals! Capturing wild animals requires so much focus and energy, not to mention strength, that we are pretty drained. A few helping hands on the carry are a godsend.
I believe one of the helpers named it Sunset Lilly, so you can go to The Marine Mammal Center's Current Patients page in a couple of days to find her status...
What a fantastic crew I work with on Mondays! Thanks Vicky, Jim and Maren. Super, first-class teamwork!
We went out on Monday morning and again, it was high tide. We checked the tides chart and 6 pm was low tide. Vicky, Jim, Maren and I headed out to Pacific Grove about 4:30 pm. The animal was still there, shifting around, peering over the edge, but obviously unable to get down. It was exhibiting some abnormal behavioral symptoms. It would surely die up there from dehydration or the sea gulls.
We took two big nets, our boards, a 700 size crate and poles to carry the crate back and headed down. There was a little bit of sandy beach, but mostly wet, slimy rocks. Kelp and mussels covered the rocks and boulders. The tall rock "island" was about 50 yards from the parking lot. The front, visible to the parking lot, was rough and craggy with sharp boulders. I walked around to the ocean side of the outcropping, underwater except at low tide, which was soggy wet with pools of water. On that side, there were mostly slabs of rock at the top and middle, with rough boulders at the bottom. It looked to me like it offered the least hazardous descent to the sea lion. However, if frightened and panicked, it could jump off anywhere in the 360-degree radius from the pointed top of the rock.
The four of us spent quite a bit of time discussing options. The sea lion wasn't going anywhere, and we had about an hour before the tide started rising. We all agreed that if we left it there and called it "inaccessible" on the report, it would surely die. We knew there was a risk of it jumping off onto the rocks and injuring itself as we tried to net it. But, we have observed hundreds of sea lions, and this one looked too unable to move quickly or to jump. There is really no way to predict the behavior of a wild animal.
We devised a strategy. I suggested we send one volunteer up the front side of the rocks with a board to intimidate the sea lion to not go down the front way. Maren said she would climb up. Jim stood on the side of the rock away from the water and held the tall net up against that side, so the sea lion might think that way was blocked. Vicky took the other net, and I took a board, and we went around to the back side. We wanted the sea lion to slide down the flat boulders. Vicky would net it, and I would keep it from escaping into the water if she missed her first try. We were stumbling around on the slick rocks and trying to find a solid position for our feet.
When we were all in position, we gave Maren the word and she started climbing up. The sea lion saw her, but didn't move. She moved slowly and cautiously up closer. The sea lion was looking around for a way down, but still didn't move. This creeping up took a long time, but soon, she was right up on the top with him, board in front of her. The sea lion was totally non-aggressive, and also wouldn't move.
It became clear that this animal was not going to come down on its own. Time to change the strategy. We moved Jim over where we were, and both he and Vicky went to the bottom of the rock, right under the sea lion. Vicky would net it, over it's head, and Jim had his net ready to catch it as it slid down. I was right there, with board ready. OK... Go!
Vicky threw that net perfectly, up so high, and the net went right over it. The sea lion started sliding down, and there was Jim, who bagged it so perfectly that it never even fell hard on the ground. On the beach, it began to struggle and I got my board placed so it didn't head into the rocks, where it could have escaped in the crevices between the rocks.
It was a tough struggle to get it into the crate. The only wide spot to drag the crate opening was behind the animal. It basically was like a 150-pound limp, stuffed animal. We pushed and pulled, and slipped on the rocks and grunted and sweated, trying to get it in the crate. There was no place we could get any leverage. Finally, Jim was able to lift the animal's butt into the crate, and get it's flippers tucked in so they would not be injured. Finally, we got it in and got the door closed and secured.
Ran the poles thru the four rope hangers and... uuugh... it was sooo heavy! We slipped and stumbled and inched our way through the water and slime, hanging onto the poles, one of us on each corner. We could only carry it about three or four feet at a time. We finally got it around the rock and onto the beach. Two or three on-lookers came down and helped us carry it to the truck. I can't tell you how grateful we are when people help us carry the animals! Capturing wild animals requires so much focus and energy, not to mention strength, that we are pretty drained. A few helping hands on the carry are a godsend.
I believe one of the helpers named it Sunset Lilly, so you can go to The Marine Mammal Center's Current Patients page in a couple of days to find her status...
What a fantastic crew I work with on Mondays! Thanks Vicky, Jim and Maren. Super, first-class teamwork!
View from the parking lot
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