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.