Lifeguards rescue seal from net

A Northern Fur Seal is struggling to survive days after Newport Beach lifeguards found the seal wrapped in netting and fighting to stay afloat and breathe, Pacific Marine Mammals Center officials said.

The seal, rarely found off Southern California coasts, was rescued by lifeguards monitoring swimmers by the pier Wednesday.

“We were coming up to the pier, and all of a sudden we saw something in the water, and it was moving and looked kind of weird,” said Newport Beach Lifeguard Capt. Brian O’Rourke. “It was sad and kind of terrible. It had a fishing net, the pretty heavy twine kind, wrapped around its fins. Imagine hog-tying someone and throwing them in the water.”

O’Rourke and his coworkers were floating a few hundred feet off the coast monitoring Newport Beach firefighter candidates taking a swim test when they saw the seal.

The net had all kinds of fishing lures and gear attached, O’Rourke said. The seal would poke its head above water to breathe, then sink back down to rest before it would struggle up to the surface again.

“[She] was exhausted. We don’t know how long she was in the water,” he said. “We got her on the boat and got a blanket on her. She was flopping around; she was definitely in distress.”

O’Rourke said he’s seen fish and birds caught in nets before, but never a seal.

“This thing is suffering, and humans made something suffer like that, and it’s out in the sea to die a kind of cruel death. It’s sad and terrible to see that,” he said.

Animal control soon arrived and took it to the Pacific Mammal Marine Center in Newport Beach.

“She is very, very tired. We’re tube feeding her five times a day,” said Michele Hunter, director of operations for the center.

“She’s expended a lot of energy and trying to get back up.”

Center workers said they’re not sure the seal will survive.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.