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.

http://tinyurl.com/yjwx3t3

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.

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.

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!

View from the parking lot

It Belongs To All Of Us

Have been watching the fantastic series on PBS about our National Parks by Ken Burns. The dedication by so many men to save the Parks for all Americans reminded me of somethng I said a couple of weeks ago when I was on a rescue.

I was standing on a beach in Pacific Grove, by a large sea lion in distress, waiting for the other crew members to bring the crate, net and boards down to the beach. Several tourists were watching from the parking lot above us, and one older man, trying to be humorous, hollered down to me, "Hey, does that thing belong to you?" "No sir," I said, "he belongs to all of us."

"Thank you, young lady," he said, smiling, "that was a very good answer."

A Drowning Sea Lion

Rescued a 120-pound sea lion from drowning today. It was so sick it was unable to move, and being rolled around in the surf by the incoming tide. We thot it was dead, but I saw it move it's mouth. We went running into the water - me and another gal grabbed it with our hands and pulled it up on the beach. We had to lift and push it into the crate. Took it back to MBO for meds... don't know if it will make it or not. But if not, at least it didn't drown or have the sea gulls pecking it's eyes out while it was still alive...

Not Every Rescued Sea Lion Survives

Just went to the Current Patients page on The Marine Mammal Center website. They have 69 animals in the hospital right now. I see that only one of the sea lions we rescued on Monday is listed. Carmel seems to have survived, but I don't see Soquel on the list. The mortality rate is not good, less than 50% of rescued animals survive, I think.

But every animal, every one of them, that we pick up on the beach would surely die if left there alone. And their death is ugly, usually having their eyes picked out by hordes of sea gulls while they are still alive, and then their brains are eaten. They die starving and dehydrated, and sometimes harassed by dogs and stupid, mean people while they cannot defend themselves.

Life is rough for the inhabitants of our oceans and beaches, and Nature is cruel and relentless.

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...

It's About Time!

This blog has been languishing for quite some time, while I've been busy with my Nikon D300, and even busier volunteering with the Marine Mammal Center's Monterey Bay Operations rescue team. So I'm thinking that I will be writing probably more about the rescues than the photography. I love working with sea lions, ellies (elephant seal pups) and harbor seals. Rewarding and heart-breaking work. TMMC has rescued over 1300 marine mammals so far this year, from our three sites: Marin Headlands, San Luis Obispo and Monterey Bay in Moss Landing, where I volunteer.

Me helping rescue a sick 500-pound sea lion from a Santa Cruz Beach

Seeing hundreds of starving juvenile sea lions is heart-breaking. Being able to rescue and save some of them is rewarding. For me, it has meant 12 to 17 hour shifts on my days: Mondays and Fridays. It has meant seeing first-hand how sick and polluted our beautiful and majestic ocean has become due to human pollution and trash. If each one of us would stop using and discarding plastic bags, it would make a difference. If each one of us would pick up a bag of garbage each time we went to the beach it would make a difference. If each one of us would stop throwing our trash into the ocean when we are on our boats, it would make a difference. The difference between life and death for the marine mammals and birds who call the ocean their home.