Toxins claim another ocean victim

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT BEACH -- A dolphin that beached at 18th Street on Friday

morning died despite the efforts of a few locals, animal control

officials and the Friends of the Sea Lion.

The dolphin was another victim of the lethal toxin in an algae bloom

that has been causing the deaths of several sea lions and other marine

mammals over the last month.

On Friday, a few passersby saw the creature struggling on the shore

about 10:30 a.m., said Newport Beach Fire Capt. John Blauer.

“He was bleeding slightly in the snout and eyes,” he said. “Something

was obviously affecting his ability to navigate in the ocean.”

Lifeguards then called for animal control officers, who tried to keep

the dolphin alive until the Friends of the Sea Lion got there, said

Animal Control Officer Eric Metz.

“We kept it upright so it could breathe,” he explained. “And we also

tried to keep it wet.”

Metz said he suspected the dolphin was suffering from the same toxic

disease that has afflicted some sea lions, and he decided to call the

Friends of the Sea Lion, which is based in Laguna Beach. The group has

worked overtime during the last month in its effort to rescue and save

several of these sea creatures at the Marine Mammal Center.

The dolphin died on its way to the Laguna Beach center, said Stephanie

Looper, a volunteer with the Friends of the Sea Lion.

“The dolphin was foaming at the mouth and continued to have repeated

seizures,” she said. “It then became comatose and died on the way to the

center.”

Scientists say the disease affecting these animals stems from a toxic

algae bloom containing harmful, often lethal, biotoxins that attack the

creatures’ central nervous system, causing seizures. Bigger or pregnant

mammals are affected even more so because they eat more of the fish that

have fed on the algae.

Newport Beach Animal Control officers have dealt with at least three

other dolphins, about 20 sea lions and several pelicans afflicted with

this disease in the last month, Metz said.

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .