Category Archives: sea lions

Sea Lions Shot in Astoria, Again!

Posted on by
5

SLDB observers report on May 18,2015 at approximately 9:00am that eleven bullet shell casings were found on the causeway in the East Mooring Basin in Astoria, Oregon. This incident was reported to NOAA and is now under Federal investigation.

At 10 :20 am a sea lion suffering with a severe eye injury is observed

This is the second time bullet shell casings have been found in the EMB within two months. At the same time SLDB observers have documented numerous sea lions sufferi…ng with severe head and eye injuries from what appear to be gun shot wounds.

Please contact :

Astoria City Hall

(503) 325-5821
1095 Duane St
Astoria, Oregon 97103

_***
The Port of Astoria
Office: 503 741-3300 (Toll free in Oregon: 800-860-4093)
****
Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce
Address: 111 W Marine Dr, Astoria, OR 97103
Phone :(503) 325-6311 http://www.oldoregon.com/

*****
Governor Kate Brown
State Capitol Building
900 Court Street NE, 160
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: (503) 378-4582 (503) 378 3111

Thank you for taking action for the sea lions!

Sea Lion Defense Brigade's photo.
Sea Lion Defense Brigade's photo.
Sea Lion Defense Brigade's photo.
Sea Lion Defense Brigade

Port to Fence off Astoria Sea Lions

Posted on by
5
Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

http://www.dailyastorian.com/DA/port/20150422/port-to-fence-off-sea-lions
The Port of Astoria is putting up barriers to sea lions in the East End Mooring Basin.
By Edward StrattonThe Daily Astorian  April 22, 2015

The Port of Astoria will begin fencing off the docks at the East End Mooring Basin this week to keep sea lions off, Executive Director Jim Knight announced at the Port of Astoria Commission meeting Tuesday night.

The obligation of the Port is to protect the publicly owned docks, he said, and other possible solutions, such as lightly electrified pads, didn’t work out.

“I’m also curious to see where the sea lions go,” Knight said, adding jokingly he hopes they won’t make their way to the Port’s West End Mooring Basin.

Commissioner Stephen Fulton asked about an offer he’d heard in the community to build a sea lion-specific dock.

Mike Weston, the Port’s director of business development and operations, said sometime last year, the Port had been approached by Sea Shepherd with an offer to pay for a sea lion dock. But the offer would have stipulated that the Port expel the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife from the East End Mooring Basin, Weston added, and the Port can’t control what the state does.

ODFW periodically traps and brands sea lions at the basin, as part of a tracking effort. It’s authorized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to kill up to 93 sea lions a year found predating on salmon at Bonneville Dam.

Larger issue

016

The sea lion issue has been a divisive one, with members of the Sea Lion Defense Brigade regularly attending Port meetings and squaring off with diametrically opposed audience members, and often Port Commissioner Bill Hunsinger.

“We don’t have to, in the Port of Astoria, provide a sanctuary for sea lions,” Hunsinger said, adding that nature’s balance is out of whack, with sea lions possibly finding a new place to breed and live full time now that they’re starving in California.

Biologists from NOAA have pointed to odd wind patterns leading to rising ocean temperatures affecting the food source of sea lions, largely sardines. Female sea lions are taking longer to find food for their pups, who are looking for food on their own before they are ready, and washing up emaciated along the West Coast. Meanwhile, sea lions are moving north and into the Columbia River to take advantage of strong runs of smelt and salmon.

Numbers of sea lions spiked during the smelt run in March, with one count by the ODFW estimating more than 2,300 in the East End Mooring Basin. The situation seems to have boiled over, with a federal investigation by NOAA agents into possible sea lion shootings at the basin earlier this month.

“Clearly there is something wrong with ocean conditions,” and sea lions need more support than ever before, Astoria resident Ted Thomas said. He asked the Port Commission to publicly condemn the possible shootings, state its support for the Marine Mammal Protection Act and release to the public the same surveillance tape footage Port staff gave to NOAA investigators.

Members of the Sea Lion Defense Brigade, including Stacey McKenney and Veronica Montoya, approached and commented about how the sea lions are so noisy because of the ODFW branding.

011

Warmer ocean blamed for struggling sea lion pups found at beaches

Posted on by
1
Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

By Peter Fimrite

Updated 8:08 pm, Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Unusually warm ocean water along the West Coast is to blame for the mass starvation, sickness and deaths of hundreds of sea lion pups in California this winter, scientists said Wednesday.

About 940 sick and starving young sea lions have washed up on California beaches so far this year and were taken into the eight rehabilitation centers between San Diego and San Francisco. That’s four times the number of strandings that occur on average in the first four months of a normal year, marine biologists said.

The number of pinnipeds being treated exceeds the number of rescues during the same period in 2013, a year in which so many sea lions washed ashore that the National Marine Fisheries Service declared a rare “unusual mortality event.”

“We are way above average,” said Justin Viezbicke, the stranding network coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries in California, adding that 550 of the rescued pups were still being treated. “Right now most of our facilities, if they are not at capacity, are close to it. … The reality is that we can’t get to all of these animals. Our capacity to handle all of these animals coming to shore just isn’t there.”

The problem is that the ocean is 2 to 5 degrees warmer than the average for this time of year, a trend that has persisted throughout much of 2014, according to Nate Mantua, a NOAA climatologist.

He said the warming trend has been moving northward and now covers virtually all of the coastal waters of Northern California. He said it is being caused by the same high-pressure system that is causing the drought, but in this case it’s the lack of wind from the north and the lack of deep ocean upwelling those winds churn up that have caused the ocean to warm.

“It is reminiscent of the kind of warming we’ve seen during extreme El Niño events,” Mantua said. “The warming is about as strong as anything that’s in the historical record for the northeast Pacific and the West Coast.”

The odd thing, he said, is that the warming is occurring even though the warming weather pattern known as El Niño is not in effect. And, he said, it’s not just on the surface. The warm ocean temperatures go down about 100 meters, enough to force the fish that sea lions feed on to migrate north, making it harder for the pinniped mothers to find food for their pups.

Dozens of subtropical fish, including yellowfin tuna, pelagic red crabs and green sea turtles, have been found in Central California waters, far north of where they normally go.

Mantua said ocean warming has been observed in the past, but rarely do these conditions last as long as this trend.

More: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Warmer-ocean-blamed-for-struggling-sea-lion-pups-6088407.php

Public Help is Urged: 20 Sea Lions Shot Dead On Northwest Coast

Posted on by
2

131

http://www.opb.org/news/article/sea-lions-under-the-gun/

20 Sea Lions Dead, Most from Gunshots, On Northwest Coast

by KUOW | June 5, 2012 3 p.m. | Updated: Feb. 18, 2015 8:10 a.m.

In the past two months 20 sea lions have washed up dead in Oregon and Washington. The majority of the animals were shot.

The animals have been found mainly near the mouth of the Columbia River, a hot spot for salmon.

A marine mammal researcher told The Oregonian they’re being killed by fishermen who view them as competition for their catch.

Sean Stanley, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement in Portland, says people who shoot sea lions face up to 20,000 dollars in fines and a year in prison. But they’re tough cases to crack.

“Public Help is the single largest way in which we catch people who shoot sea lions or violate the marine protection act.”

Sea lions are federally protected but wildlife managers are allowed to kill the ones that eat salmon at Bonneville dam on the Columbia River.

Conservationists fear that sets a bad example for the fishermen and others who interact with these animals elsewhere.

If you have information about sea lion deaths call 1 800 853 1964.

10,000 Dead Sea Lion Pups Wash Up In California: “It’s very difficult to see so much death.”

Posted on by
4

Meanwhile fishermen are shooting sea lions on the Oregon coast!

https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/agents-probe-possible-sea-lion-shootings/

131

10,000 Dead Sea Lions Wash Up In California, Officials Announce “Crisis”

Posted by  Sean Adl-Tabatabai   in  ,      2 weeks ago

10,000 baby sea lions have washed up dead on a California island, with experts calling the unexplained deaths a “crisis” and “[Pups] are washing ashore at a rate so alarming, rescuers said Thursday, this year is the worst yet”. Enenews.com reports

Michele Hunter, the center’s director of animal care, said, “It’s very difficult to see so much death.” Sacramento Bee, Mar 7, 2015: Tens of thousands of pups birthed last summer are believed to be dying on the islands… some [are] desperately trying to climb onto small boats or kayaks… Scientists noted a worrisome anomaly in 2013, when 1,171 famished pups were stranded…

Marine Mammal Center, Mar 5, 2015: It’s clear these sea lions are trying to tell us something. Their very presence here in such great numbers at this time of year is sounding an alarm up and down the coast… it signals something complex happening in our ocean… sea lions are very sensitive to their environment… alerting us to major changes in the ocean… The scene on the Channel Islands this year is grave, worse even than what researchers saw in 2012, before the Unusual Mortality Event in 2013… “What’s scary is that we don’t know when this will end,” says Dr. Shawn Johnson, Director of Veterinary Science at The Marine Mammal Center.

“This could be the new normal—a changed environment that we’re dealing with now.” LA Daily News, Mar 13, 2015: “By the end of January, we had as many as we did in (all of) 2013,” [Marine Mammal Care Center’s David Bard] said… “We’ve never seen anything like this with back-to-back events that are affecting the same part of the population,” Melin said. Dr. Melin: “Based on what we are seeing… we should be bracing for a lot more animals” CBS Los Angeles, Mar 9, 2015: [California Wildlife Center’s Jeff Hall] says the event has escalated into a crisis. “I would personally consider this a crisis,” Hall said… The epidemic has prompted a number of volunteers to step forward, including… television personality Kat Von D [who said] “I think there’s a lack of awareness of what’s going on in the environment.”

– See more at: http://yournewswire.com/10000-dead-sea-lions-wash-up-in-california-officials-announce-crisis/#sthash.xyJ5ugxq.dpuf

Agents probe possible sea lion shootings

Posted on by
3

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20150409/agents-probe-possible-sea-lion-shootings?utm_source=Daily+Astorian+Updates&utm_campaign=f27d5e502d-TEMPLATE_Daily_Astorian_Newsletter_Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e787c9ed3c-f27d5e502d-109860249

By Edward StrattonThe Daily Astorian

Published:April 9, 2015 8:31AM
Last changed:April 9, 2015 8:44AM

Photo Courtesy of Sea Lion Defense Brigade
A California sea lion hauled out at the Port of Astoria’s East End Mooring Basin appears to have been shot.

Photo Courtesy of Sea Lion Defense Brigade
Sea Lion Defense Brigade members found 19 bullet casings on the causeway at the Port of Astoria’s East End Mooring Basin.

Photo Courtesy of Sea Lion Defense Brigade
A California sea lion hauled out at the Port of Astoria’s East End Mooring Basin bleeds from a fresh wound. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is investigating the possible shooting of sea lions.

On Monday, members of the Sea Lion Defense Brigade reported finding 19 bullet casings on the East End Mooring Basin causeway. Over the Easter weekend, they’d posted pictures of several animals on their Facebook page with open wounds and pockmarks that look as if they’d been shot.

“We can tell you that NOAA office of law enforcement has received a complaint, and we are investigating the possible shooting of sea lions at the East End Mooring Basin,” said Sean Stanley, a special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Stanley wouldn’t comment further, citing the ongoing case.

Sea lions and other pinnipeds are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. NOAA authorizes wildlife managers in Oregon and Washington to trap and kill fewer than 100 sea lions a year seen eating salmon at the Bonneville dam.

But there have been recent reports, from the one in Astoria to others along the North Coast, of them washing up on beaches with what could be bullet wounds.

Anyone with information about any violations of the marine mammal act are asked to call NOAA’s hotline at 800-853-1964.

Port of Astoria Executive Director Jim Knight said NOAA went to the basin and found 19 .380-caliber bullet casings, and the Port has turned over surveillance video to investigators. Knight said he’s been told of a few dead sea lions, including one on Clatsop Spit, another at the basin and another in between the U.S. Coast Guard cutters on the 17th Street Dock.

Fort Stevens State Park ranger Dustin Bessette said he’s noticed six sea lions between Gearhart and the South Jetty washing up dead.

“It’s kind of early,” he said, adding that sea lions washing up are a yearly occurrence. “I expect them to show up on the beach to molt, but I’ve only seen one of those.”

On one occasion, Bessette said, he went to the beach with an assistant from the Seaside Aquarium and found a dead sea lion with what first looked to him like a wound from a .22-caliber rifle or bird shot.

“It looks to be bullet holes from someone shooting them,” he said. “My guess is a fisherman, right off the bat.”

Bessette cautioned that only a necropsy can tell for certain whether they were bullet holes.

“If it’s one that shows up on the beach, we tell the Seaside Aquarium,” Bessette said. “If we don’t get to it within three or four days, my response last year was to bury them.”

Tiffany Boothe, an administrative assistant at the Seaside Aquarium, said her organization helps with the necropsies and does get reports of a number of shot animals each year.

“In the recent week, we’ve been getting a lot of calls,” Boothe said. “Usually, they’re from the Sea Lion Defense Brigade. They’re reporting all sorts of things.”

Stanley reported earlier this month to the Chinook Observer that NOAA’s case into the killing of a mother harbor seal on the Long Beach (Wash.) Peninsula last year was closed, with no actionable leads. The seal had been run over. (See related story link below)

The Sea Lion Defense Brigade monitors actions regarding sea lions on their Facebook page, decrying their treatment. It has more than 4,000 likes and has been around for several years.

Another Facebook page, “You Know You Hate Sea Lions When …” started March 25 as a sort of online rebuttal, a place for people to voice their displeasure with sea lions. Some of its more than 200 members went so far as to post photos of buckshot shells and other ammunition, talking about the bygone days when fishermen could simply shoot sea lions eating their fish.

“Met a few (sea lions) on the shrimp grounds, They are no longer active,” Ted Johnson wrote on the page.

Related Stories

Clues still sought about seal death a year ago   04-09-2015

Sea Lions do not have any other food choices

Posted on by
1

From Sea Lion Defense Brigade:

SLDB observers report that the steller sea lions on the Columbia River are a beautiful sight and one of the best things about the return of the spring Chinook salmon and the Pacific Lamprey.

They have an ancient predator prey relationship that spans back over ten thousand years on the Columbia River. The Pacific Lamprey are the sea lions food of choice and the Pacific Lamprey like the sea lions are today were once deemed “predator” to the Chinook salmon by sport fishermen and completely eradicated from the Columbia River Basin by ODFW from approximately 1960-1980s.

It is absolutely heinous the way the big corporate media portrays the sea lions return to the Columbia River. It is horrifying the way the state and federal policies are written to allow the hazing of the steller sea lions and the trapping and branding and killing of the California sea lions for eating as little as one fish out of the Columbia River at the Bonneville Dam.

Tax payer dollars are being wasted to attack majestic creatures in their native home to scapegoat and kill animals that do not have any other food choices than to eat fish and other aquatic life. Current science supports the importance of crucial top predators and the importance of bio diversity in the Bio Region to increase the chances for all species to be able to survive.

ODFW worked to cause of the eradication of the sea lion’s original and favorite food source. And ODFW also was successful in destroying the Chinook salmon’s original natural predator by clearing the Columbia River basin of the Pacific Lamprey and now they are targeting the native sea lions.

ODFW was successful in destroying 450 millions years of Mother’s Natures work in only twenty years all to appease the cries from the sport fishermen that once stated that the Pacific lamprey were also like what they currently say about the sea ions that the lamprey were eating “to Much” of their salmon.

Today the USDA’s bombing destroys the tranquility of what a day on the Columbia River is supposed to be and Pacific Lamprey is now being produced at the Bonneville Dam hatchery.

The USDA’s assaults destroys any chance a visitor to the area may have who is scouting to see the elusive and shy Big Foot on the City of North Bonneville’s heritage trail walk.

Many visitors travel to Oregon because they are thrilled to get the chance to see wildlife in their native habitat, and by the way this will never happen while the USDA guy is shooting.

There is joy to be had experiencing these animals in their native habitat and getting the opportunity to hear their vocalizations can be life changing for some people. Big Foot and the beautiful sea lions in the Columbia River Gorge need more protection not less SLDB observer report.

See More

'SLDB observers report that the steller sea lions on the Columbia River are a beautiful sight and one of the best things about the return of the spring Chinook salmon and the Pacific Lamprey. They have an ancient predator prey relationship that spans back over ten thousand years on the Columbia River. The Pacific Lamprey are the sea lions food of choice and the Pacific Lamprey like the sea lions are today were once deemed "predator" to the Chinook salmon by sport fishermen and completely eradicated from the Columbia River Basin by ODFW from approximately 1960-1980s. It is absolutely heinous the way the big corporate media portrays the sea lions return to the Columbia River. It is horrifying the way the state and federal policies are written to allow the hazing of the steller sea lions and the trapping and branding and killing of the California sea lions for eating as little as one fish out of the Columbia River at the Bonneville Dam. Tax payer dollars are being wasted to attack majestic creatures in their native home to scapegoat and kill animals that do not have any other food choices than to eat fish and other aquatic life. Current science supports the importance of crucial top predators and the importance of bio diversity in the Bio Region to increase the chances for all species to be able to survive. ODFW worked to cause of the eradication of the sea lion's original and favorite food source. And ODFW also was successful in destroying the Chinook salmon's original natural predator by clearing the Columbia River basin of the Pacific Lamprey and now they are targeting the native sea lions. ODFW was successful in destroying 450 millions years of Mother's Natures work in only twenty years all to appease the cries from the sport fishermen that once stated that the Pacific lamprey were also like what they currently say about the sea ions that the lamprey were eating “to Much" of their salmon. Today the USDA's bombing destroys the tranquility of what a day on the Columbia River is supposed to be and Pacific Lamprey is now being produced at the Bonneville Dam hatchery. The USDA's assaults destroys any chance a visitor to the area may have who is scouting to see the elusive and shy Big Foot on the City of North Bonneville's heritage trail walk. Many visitors travel to Oregon because they are thrilled to get the chance to see wildlife in their native habitat, and by the way this will never happen while the USDA guy is shooting. There is joy to be had experiencing these animals in their native habitat and getting the opportunity to hear their vocalizations can be life changing for some people. Big Foot and the beautiful sea lions in the Columbia River Gorge need more protection not less SLDB observer report.'

Sea lions adapt to changing climate

Posted on by
1
Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20150325/sea-lions-adapt-to-changing-climate

NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center  March 25, 2015

Climate change and food shortages are behind an increased push of pinnipeds into the Columbia River.

In Southern California hundreds of starving sea lion pups are washing up on beaches, filling marine mammal care centers that scarcely can hold them all.

Meanwhile thousands of adult male California sea lions are surging into the Pacific Northwest, crowding onto docks and jetties in coastal communities.

How can animals from the same population be struggling in one region while thriving in another? The answer lies in the division of family responsibilities between male and female sea lions, and the different ways each responds to an everchanging ocean, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

“We’re seeing the population adjust to the environment as the environment changes,” said Sharon Melin, a sea lion biologist with the fisheries science center.

The environmental changes affecting the sea lions can be traced to unusually weak winds off the West Coast over the last year. Without cooling winds, scientists say, the Pacific Ocean warmed as much as 2 to 5 degrees Celsius (35.6 to 41 degrees Farenheit) above average. What started as a patchwork of warm water from Southern California to Alaska in 2014 has since grown into a vast expanse, affecting everything from plankton at the bottom of the food chain to sea lions near the top.

“The warming is about as strong as anything in the historical record,” said Nathan Mantua, who leads the Landscape Ecology Team at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Struggle for food

The Channel Islands rookeries where nearly all California sea lions raise their young off Southern California sit in the middle of the warm expanse. Female sea lions have strong ties to the rookeries. They take foraging trips of a few days at a time before returning to the rookeries to nurse their pups.

But the unusually warm water has apparently shifted the distribution of their prey, making it harder for females to find enough food to support the nutritional needs of their pups. Their hungry pups, it now appears, are struggling to gain weight and have begun striking out from the rookeries on their own. Many do not make it and instead wash up on shore dead or emaciated.

Since the early 1970s the California sea lion population underwent unprecedented growth. The species is protected by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act and is estimated to number about 300,000 along the U.S. West Coast. But the growth has slowed in recent years as ocean conditions have turned especially unfavorable for juvenile survival. That could lead to population declines in coming years, biologists say.

“We are working on data to look at whether the population might be approaching its resource limits,” Melin told reporters in a recent conference call.

Sea lions serve as an indicator of ocean conditions because they are visible and are sensitive to small environmental and ecological changes, Melin said. The warm temperatures may well be affecting other species in less obvious ways.

“There are probably other things going on in the ecosystem we may not be seeing,” she said.

Bachelors

Unlike female sea lions, males have no lasting obligations to females or young. After mating at the rookeries in midsummer, they leave the rookeries and roam as far as Oregon, Washington and Alaska in search of food.

“They’re bachelors,” said Mark Lowry of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. “They just go wherever they can to find something to eat.”

Male sea lions search out prey with high energy content, especially oily fish such as herring and sardines, said Robert DeLong, who leads a program to study the California Current Ecosystem at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Increasing numbers have found their way to the mouth of the Columbia River to feed on increasingly strong runs of eulachon, also called smelt, and have taken up residence on docks and jetties near Astoria.

“More sea lions learned last year and even more will learn this year that this is a good place to find food,” DeLong said of the Columbia River. “They’ve learned these fish are there now and they won’t forget that.”

DeLong and Steve Jeffries, a research biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, attached satellite-linked tracking tags to 15 sea lions feeding on salmon near Bremerton (Wash.) in November and December. Four of those sea lions are now at the mouth of the Columbia, Jeffries said.

Counts around Astoria rose from a few hundred in January to nearly 2,000 in February, exceeding numbers in previous years at the same time. The count includes some animals from the eastern stock of Steller sea lions, removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in 2013. The California sea lions also feed on spring chinook salmon and steelhead. Some of the chinook and steelhead stocks are listed under the Endangered Species Act and NOAA Fisheries is working with state officials to address sea lion predation.

By the beginning of May, the male sea lions depart for the summer breeding season at the rookeries in Southern California.

“It’s like flipping a switch,” DeLong said. “Suddenly it’s time to go.”

Warm conditions may continue

The warm expanse of ocean extends to depths of 60 to 100 meters, Mantua said, and will likely take months to dissipate even if normal winds resume. Biologists expect poor feeding conditions for California sea lions will likely continue near their rookeries while warm ocean conditions persist. A more typical spring and summer with strong and persistent winds from the north would cool the water and likely improve foraging conditions along the West Coast.

The tropical El Niño just declared by NOAA is one wild card that may affect West Coast ocean conditions over the next year. If the El Niño continues or intensifies through 2015, it would favor winds and ocean currents that support another year of warm conditions along the West Coast.

More info.:

For more information on sea lion strandings, visit http://tinyurl.com/nxqhwkw. For information on field research in the sea lion rookeries, visit http://tinyurl.com/no7heje. For information on det

Why Not Become a Sea Lion Advocate?

Posted on by
4

According to an MSN news article entitled, Golden Gate Bridge jumper says sea lion saved him, “A man who jumped off San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge to try to take his own life and was kept afloat by a sea lion said Wednesday suicide prevention was now his life’s work.”

Witnesses who saw the incident said a sea lion kept him afloat until the Coast Guard sent a rescue boat. Kevin Hines told MSN news, “I really thought it was a shark and I thought it was going to take off a leg and I was panicking. And then it just didn’t, it just kept circling beneath me. I remember floating atop the water and this thing just bumping me, bumping me up.”

One of the witnesses told Hines, “I was less than two feet away from you when you jumped. It haunted me until this day; it was no shark, it was a sea lion and people above looking down believed it to be keeping you afloat until the Coast Guard brought a ride behind you.”

Hines stated, “[Witnesses] saw me laying atop the water and being bumped.” He added, “This thing beneath me didn’t stop or didn’t go away until I heard the boat behind me.”

After all our species has done and continues to do to sea lions—hunted them by the thousands for their fur and oil while feeding their flesh to dogs or captive minks; vilifying and putting a bounty on their heads forDSC_0129 competing with commercial fishermen; and forcing them to perform as trained “seals” in the circus, etc.—it’s incredible that one of these “lesser” mammals would go out of his or her way to save a human.

If not for the sea lion keeping him afloat, Hines would very likely have gone under and drowned before the rescue boat arrived.  While it’s noble that he is now devoting his life to suicide prevention, if he really wants to be altruistic, why not advocate for the one who went out of their way to prevent his suicide. It seems to me that if anyone has a good reason to become a marine mammal advocate, he does—he owes them his life.

While the human population grows by 350,000 per day, Steller sea lions, dsc_0224whose total pre-persecution numbers were never more than 300,000, have been driven below 100,000 and are still in decline. In Alaska, the Western segment of Stellars is down to a mere 18% of their historic numbers. Meanwhile, starved California sea lion pups are washing up dead on the beaches.

Sea lions are still being scapegoated, branded and shot, all for eating fish—the only food they have.

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Unusually High Number of Sea Lions Stranded in Calif.

Posted on by
1

http://www.accuweather.com/en/features/trend/unusually_high_number_of_sea_l/41362576

<!–
STAFFWRITER
–>

January 31, 2015; 8:00 AM ET

A record number of starved sea lion pups are washing ashore along the California coast.

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson. All Rights Reserved

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson. All Rights Reserved

Officials said on average 250 stranded pups need rescuing between January and April. Since Jan. 1, marine mammal rescue centers have taken in 150 animals.

Scientists believe warmer waters caused by El Niño might shift the sea lions’ food supply and force pups to leave their malnourished mothers sooner than usual.

The high numbers of stranded sea lions have forced rescue centers to prepare for a high number of incoming animals.

“All of the [rescue and rehabilitation] facilities are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” said Justin Viezbicke with the National Marine Fisheries Service and coordinator of the California Stranding Network. “They’re getting staffing ready, looking at transferring animals if facilities are full, sharing staffing and resources, and getting everybody ready to respond.”

Rescuers said many of the pups arrive weighing just more than their birth weight of 18 to 22 pounds. Many have parasites, respiratory infections, digestive issues or a strain of pox, said Todd Schmitt, SeaWorld’s senior veterinarian (Deborah Sullivan Brennan, San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 27).

Reprinted from ClimateWire