BC Vancouver Aquarium staff helping rescue starving sea lion pups in California

Volunteers from the Vancouver Aquarium’s marine are stepping up to help hundreds of starving and sick sea lion pups washing up on the shores of California.

In the past three months, more than 1,800 emaciated pups have been found, putting pressure on local rescue centres.

Dr. Martin Haulena, the aquarium’s head veterinarian, said 10 staff members are travelling to three different facilities in southern California to help care for the animals.

“This is quite an unprecedented amount of California sea lions that are washing up and stranding,” he said. “They’re just not able to find the food that they need.”

Scientists aren’t sure what’s causing the crisis, but Haulena said the El Niño weather phenomenon is likely to blame.

“It’s a fairly normal cyclical event where waters are warmer than they should be,” he said. “That means that the prey species that these guys rely on are further away or just not as abundant as they normally are in other years.”

With scarce food sources, Haulena said malnourished young pups are being separated from their mothers without the skills to forage on their own.

He said the flood of new pups arriving daily has left staff at rescue centres like the Marine Mammal Care Centre in San Pedro and the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito overwhelmed and in urgent need of skilled volunteers.

“They’re needing help,” said Haulena, who previously worked as a veterinarian at the Sausalito rescue centre from 1997 to 2006, before joining Vancouver Aquarium.

“We’re all in this together, so we’re just trying to do whatever we can for our friends.”

Agencies/Canadajournal