Marine Mammal Care

peter wallerstein is sneaking up on a juvenile california sea lion that's lying on a dock in san pedro says there's still very very alert nose rewrite see the pilings right they're smart enough to stay behind it which really prevents us from getting close enough to survive wallerstein has been watching the animal because he might have a virus and some kind of respiratory problem people here in china like this so more might not figure out how to fend for himself working james o'neill so wallerstein is decided to capture the animal and bring him to a care facility for treatment and relocation wallerstein heads an all volunteer organization called whale rescue team needed help sick and injured marine mammals and seabirds he says many of these rescues in the last couple of years have been because of a nerve toxin called the mole with acid it's produced by a species of microscopic algae and causes sea lions to become disoriented

had seizures and even homeowners will still have shootings we have a lot of seals and sea lions that interact with the fishing industry so just recently we had one california sea lion that had five fishing hooks on its face some in its mouth in its here it's nose and its eye socket he says the majority of these rescues are because of natural causes but the rescues help offset the harm humans do for one thing the sheer number of people in southern california beaches means marine animals that need to rest there are often scared off or harassed and he will do a lot of stupid things like throw beach balls or water at them or try to push sick animals back into the ocean so with all the human cause problems we feel for the other animals to serve a good chance of surviving and we dont know even though to modesto poisoning they say it's a natural balloon but pollution fits these balloons wallenstein tries twice to catch the sea lions that each time the animal dies before he can he

doesn't want a stress the sea lion anymore so he decides to return on another day when he does capture seals and sea lions he takes them to the fort macarthur marine mammal care center in san diego harrison morning a dozen young sea lions in another enclosure two hundred pound baby elephant seals with big shiny black eyes are lounging in europe while nearby operations manager jennifer sullivan is supervising volunteers that are treating a juvenile sea lion just in pieces and withholding you're doing all palfrey cylinder born right around june so he was born lester is very intimate and very hairy animal is so thin you can see his ribs and that he may have gotten sick because of his age young sea lions leave their moms and have to survive on their own the volunteers put a tube down his throat to give him a solution similar to gator aid and they

inject fluids and vitamin b under his skin sullivan says he'll see lions deteriorate quickly because they get all their water from the fish at so they're not about eating fish that they're not getting water the thing to their lives or they were going to get dehydrated more dehydrated they get the less energy they have the last eight years they haven't whined to go fish this year the care center has taken in more animals than ever three hundred seventeen so far that's because of the demo acid outbreak and more heavy storms that cause youngsters to get separated from mom now that the demo an outbreak is pretty much over and the storms have subsided the influx of animals has slowed and the center is preparing to release many of them the center's director jackie dicola says people who see marine mammals on beaches can leave them alone and report them to a lifeguard or animal control they are wild animals like invite inflict serious wounds and are celebrating them are harassing them in any way is punishable it's a federal offense you can be fined up to twenty thousand dollars the marine

mammal care center and the whale rescue team rely heavily on volunteers and private donations they encourage people who are interested in helping to get him home in soweto else's that's your eighty nine point three sec