Volunteers rescue sea lion pup injured by net
Desdemona Bandini
In the 15 years Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy William Nelson has
been patrolling the harbor in Newport Beach, he has only witnessed
two successful sea lion rescues out of a hundred. The second one
happened Friday.
A kayaker spotted the seriously injured, 40-pound pup and called
the Harbor Patrol about 8:30 a.m. It was the same distressed animal
that rescuers had tried to catch three times earlier last week,
Nelson said.
“Sea lions are smart animals -- they follow the food,” Nelson
said. “Sometimes they go after baited fishing-lines that have hooks.
They get the hook stuck in them, especially the pups, and then they
end up twisting the fishing-line into a noose around their neck. When
the pups start to grow up and get bigger, they can end up slowly
strangling themselves to death. Its an awful and painful way to go.”
That was the case in Friday’s rescue. The young sea lion that
rescuers named “Cobra” had indeed entangled its neck in a gill net,
which had dug deep into its skin, exposing bloody, pink flesh.
“Catching sea lions in open water is tricky business because they
dive into the water when humans approach,” said Michelle Hunter,
director of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, a Laguna Beach-based
rescue organization.
Most sea lions are rescued when they are beached on land, Hunter
said. Center volunteers Dana and Lynn Friedman were able to rescue
Cobra on Friday.
“I cannot tell you how critical it was that we were able to save
this animal,” said Dana Friedman, who was bitten on his arms during
the rescue. “We had been trying for at least three weeks, and the
situation was dire. I am happy that this story has a happy ending,
and Cobra will be OK.”
Nelson said he has seen more sea lions this summer than ever
before.
Mike Teague of the Newport Beach Police Department Animal Control
Unit suspects the area’s decline in the sea lion predator, the great
white shark, is one reason for the sea lion population boom.
“Just yesterday, we got a call to rescue a beached sea lion in
Corona del Mar, and when we came, we found not a sick animal, but a
pregnant sea lion giving birth right there on the beach,” Teague
said.
When marine animals are found injured, they’re often taken to the
Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which is the only facility nearby
equipped to treat large marine wildlife, Nelson said.
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