Rehabbed Sea Lion Pups Released Back into the Wild

By Jackie Connor

Cloudy skies were no match for about 75 people who gathered at Crescent Bay Beach in Laguna Beach Sunday morning to witness the release of two California Sea Lions from their rehab programs.

As their crate doors opened, the two rehabbed pups, Evanora and Grace, bounded from the sand to the brisk 65º Pacific ocean and swam southbound.

In the past five months, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center has been overwhelmed with 340 rescue calls and has been rehabilitating 167 sea lion pups, 10 times the normal rate.

"In 2012 we only rescued 63 sea lions for the entire year," Keith Matassa, the center's executive director, said in a news release. "The investigation, which is spearheaded by the National Marine Fishery Service, is still on-going, but what everything seems to be pointing to is some problem with the food process out there, which is why they were so underweight."

When the center rescued Grace from San Clemente on Feb. 21, she weighed a mere 26 pounds, about 50 to 60 pounds underweight. On March 13, Evanora was also rescued from San Clemente, weighing only 22 pounds with lacerations on her face.

"The first thing we do is rehydrate them to get them back to normal hydration levels, if they're not eating fish, they're not getting the water they would need to stay hydrated," said Michele Hunter, the center's director of animal care. "Then we add a milk product and blend it with herring for tube feeding, which is such an essential part of what we do for these animals."

Towards the end of their progression, Evanora and Grace were put in a pool with seven other sea lions to encourage natural competition, Hunter said.

"We weighed them weekly to make sure they were progressing at a normal rate," she said. 

Tipping the scales towards the end of their rehabilitation, Grace weighed 79 pounds and Evanora weighed 80 pounds.

By the end of June, the sea lion rescues began tapering off. With still 46 more sea lions to rehabilitate, the center continues to move forward with the help of professionals and volunteers.

"It's just the right thing to do," center founder John Cunningham said. "The whole reason it works is because of all the people and volunteers. They are really dedicated."