the one that got away

he (i'm guessing) looks so calm. so, almost tame. and what soft brown eyes. who wouldn't want to pet him?

we started down to the capitola pier this morning to get a closer look at two things out in the water that we couldn't quite see well enough out the window to identify. as we walked out on the pier we saw a sea lion on the main beach, where they don't usually go unless sick or injured. robin went home to call marine mammal rescue and i went down on the beach to warn people away, as we could see they were getting quite close to the animal. i stayed a bit and politely asked people to give the animal a wide berth. most were polite and understanding. several though were rather stuffy and close to rude. i had to leave for a bit to cool off. i watched from the pier and saw the sea lion twice chase after people when they got close. when robin returned we went back on the beach and sat there warning people. a few of the beachgoers helped. when people walked close to the animal we would get up and ask them to stay away. again, most thanked us for warning them to keep some distance from a sick or injured wild animal. a few protested that they didn't mean to disturb it. they didn't even see it. i replied "yes, that's why i warned you."

robin went back home a second time to fetch something to make more of a barrier than the three traffic cones supplied by the lifeguard. she returned with string and a handful of bamboo garden sticks that her brother brought over. so with the help of the nice people we made a big semi-circle perimeter of sticks and twine, open to the ocean. now there was at least a visible line for stupid humans to ignore. most kids were interested and curious and respectful of a sick animal. adults a bit less so.

one woman approached the string line with her two year old girl, who immediately went under the string. mom retrieved her and the child just went right back. she had that look of a kid who will stare right at you run into the street if told not to. she started towards the animal and many people yelled "that's a wild animal! get your kid." the kid was now about ten feet from the sea lion. mom dithered about stepping over the string or walking around. i leapt up, jumped over the string, picked up the child and retreated to safety. i got a snippy "i was going to get her" from mom. two of the men who helped us set up the stringline told me that they would have done the same. i was just a step quicker.

after a long interval marine mammal rescue came. they assessed that the animal was indeed in distress, possibly leptospirosis or domoic acid poisoning. we moved our string and they moved in to capture the sea lion. i wish that the stupid mom was still there to see how it reared up, roared, lunged a good eight feet and shoved through the rescuers to get back in the ocean. the rescue failed. the rescuers watched where the animal went and set off to the next beach south, where it was headed.

this isn't exactly where the sea lion was, but close enough. it was just a bit off to the right. a packed beach on a sunny sunday.

update..link to domoic acid poisoning fixed.

Wordless Wednesday: The Update

Please click on the picture. It's a screen shot from the Marine Mammal Center. They keep a record of patients on their website. RoRo {named for Ro(ger) and Ro(bin)} was transported to the main hospital in Sausalito on Roger's birthday. RoRo rocks!

PS -- For you purists, I confess to actually photoshopping RoRo's date of entry because it is was appallingly listed as 8/31/09. We're good, but we're not completely adept futurists!

The Rescued One

When we walked down to the beach Thursday, we found this sea lion at the base of the stairs. I called the local Marine Mammal Center to report this stranded animal, but a very sympathetic volunteer told me they were short-staffed (they are almost entirely volunteer supported) and that if the sea lion was not injured it could take 24 hours for a crew to respond. They are simply being overwhelmed this year with rescues. I told them I would check back on the animal in the morning to report to them if he was still alive. That's how I left it.
On Friday morning, with trepidation and heavy hearts, we walked down to the beach to see if our sea lion was still there. Why yes, yes he was; and he was still alive! But now there were two more stranded, as well. Fortunately, there were also two rescue volunteers already onsite, assessing the situation. Roger and I talked with them for a while; they were calling for two trucks to handle this rescue. One of the younger animals was definitely injured and would need to be taken in. The one we had seen the day before was still hanging in there, but was obviously in distress. The third one didn't look too bad and so probably wouldn't need rescuing. We felt very confident that things would be okay, and so left to come back home.

For some reason though, right after I got home, I thought I should just turn around and head back down to see if they might need some additional help. When I arrived, and it literally wasn't more than ten minutes later, the two smaller animals had already been driven back into the water by stupid, reckless, and thoughtless humans who had approached and scared them away. Grrrrr....
The older male that we had seen the day before was still there. He was lethargic, but still alert. We waited for the rescue truck to arrive. While we waited the sea lion changed positions several times. I can't tell you what a relief it was to see this animal move. Every movement was a confirmation that its heart was still beating. Each slow rise of its chest meant life. That he had survived this long was already a surprise, so now we were focused on getting it some much-needed help.
Help arrived, and the rescue was absolutely flawless. One of the volunteers took a very large net on a very long handle, and threw it over the sea lion's head. Then, the six other volunteers that had arrived surrounded it with wooden boards, which encouraged it to move forward into the net. The net is then turned so that the opening faces the carrier. Voila! The sea lion is taken away. The number of sea lions needing rescue this year has just surpassed the all-time high of 1129 in the 1989 El Nino year. Thursday came in it at 1130, and still counting. This one might be 1131, I have no way of knowing. But the rescuers told us that we could follow its progress on their website. They were going to call him RoRo, for Roger and Robin. We were deeply honored by their suggestion.

Rock on, RoRo.

More Sea Lion News

The local news has been full of stories about our California sea lions. They're hungry and dying on our shores. We hear them at night barking and barking. It's never quite been like this.
The other day I noticed one climb up on to a dinghy tied to an anchored sailboat. I grabbed the binoculars and watch a few more hop on board. They stayed there for several days. I kept a watchful eye on them, knowing that sooner or later they would be ousted from their resting spot.
On Sunday, while I was busy doing household chores, the sailboat owners came and displaced those forlorn beasts. I didn't get to see how they were compelled to leave. The dinghy was empty while a crew of four spent the afternoon in the sailboat basking in the California sea and sun.

I had hoped once they left, the sea lions would return and rest easy in their safe place, but by Sunday evening the dinghy was still empty.

We'll keep you posted.

For Friday: A Feeding Frenzy

We were having dinner Thursday evening, looking out at the bay and watching a surprising number of pelicans diving for sardines. The sardines have been running for almost a week. The trawlers were off in the distance and had finally pulled in their nets. It was great to see the pelicans and cormorants getting food. So, after dinner we took a walk down to the wharf to see if we could get a photo or two of the action. This is what we saw. We couldn't tell if they were harbor seals or sea lions, but they were churning up the water and eating like there's no tomorrow. (We exported the video in the lowest quality possible so it would download quickly. A lot of quality is lost in translation.)