VENTURA : Beached Sea Lion Yearling Dies at Rehabilitation Facility

A young sea lion who gained the sympathy of campers when she beached herself last week at Emma Wood State Beach died Monday at San Diego’s Sea World, where she had been taken for rehabilitation.

The sea lion was stranded on the cobbled beach for two days, with sympathetic beach-goers occasionally standing guard to protect the weakened mammal from dogs and overly curious people.

On Saturday, Ventura County animal control officers picked up the sea lion and administered fluids and medication before transferring her to a facility in Rancho Palos Verdes, an animal control official said.

A marine biologist with the Organization for Respect and Care of Animals in the Sea (ORCAS), a center where the sea lion was taken, described the animal as a yearling that weighed 47 pounds.

The center transported her Sunday to the Marine Mammals Department at Sea World for rehabilitation.

After the sea lion arrived in San Diego, she was treated for shock and dehydration, a standard treatment at the center, a spokesman said.

Despite the care, the young sea lion died at 7 a.m. Monday, said spokesman Fred Jacobs.

A necropsy revealed that the animal was badly infested with lung worms and had pneumonia and a blood infection, he said.

The pup was one of more than 20 ailing sea lions found on Ventura County beaches in recent months, during which scores of dead sea lions have also been found, officials said.

Some marine specialists say the warm ocean currents of El Nino caused the rise in sea lion deaths by driving away the small fish they eat.

But marine biologist Don Zumwalt of ORCAS said the increase may simply be a reflection of the recent growth of the sea lion population.

“It may only be coincidental that we’re having an El Nino at the same time,” Zumwalt said.