Rescuers Free Seals, Sea Lions

Captain, the sea lion, arrived on Seal Beach in poor shape, with two deep facial gashes and a missing eye. His remaining eye was so badly infected that he was virtually blind.

Basura was only slightly better off. His rescuers found Basura, which means garbage in Spanish, in a trash can at Dana Point. He too had an eye infection and respiratory troubles.

Although rescuers from the Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach can’t say for certain what caused the injuries to either sea lion, they say such injuries are common among the 102 sea lions, harbor seals and elephant seals treated at the center this year.

Captain, Basura and four other center patients were put back into the ocean at Crescent Bay on Sunday after several months of rehabilitation.

As swimmers, sunbathers and center volunteers watched, two sea lions, two harbor seals and two elephant seals waddled down a short beach to the water. Captain and Basura wasted no time getting back. The two frolicked near the shore and then swam off together.

Toobs and Cassette, two harbor seals who became separated too soon from their mothers and were found stranded on the beach, left their rescuers more tentatively. They shimmied into the water and then swam around only 100 yards from shore.

The final pair, Guinness and Billie, two 180-pound elephant seals, looked as if they weren’t going to the leave the beach at all. They sat staring back at the crowd, moving from side to side. “It takes them a little while longer to figure what’s going on,” said Judi Jones, director of operations for the center. And finally they did leave.

The Marine Mammal Center off Laguna Canyon Road has treated, nursed and released thousands of sea lions and seals since it was founded in 1971 by a veterinarian, a lifeguard and a science teacher. Through donations to the Friends of the Sea Lion and the effort of volunteers, the organization provides food and medical care to the wounded animals until they gain enough strength to return to the sea.

Close to 70 volunteers try to create as natural an environment as possible. They never feed the seals or sea lions by hand or pet them, Jones said, to prevent them from growing attached or dependent on the volunteers--and vice versa.

Jones said they are now tending to twice the number of animals treated in the 1980s.

“I don’t know if there are more animals, or there are more sick as a result of pollution from the fires and sewer spills, or if there is just more competition for food,” Jones said.

In any case, Jones said the center is running out of funds.

“We spend about $250 a day on fish and another $200 a day on water, electricity and medicine,” she said. The nonprofit organization relies on donations from its members and visiting school groups, she said.

They may have found loyal friends in Bill and Leila Cassady, who brought Billie to the center in March. They found her in Crystal Cove seriously underweight and suffering from a respiratory infection.

At the center, Billie gained almost 100 pounds in four months.

“We’re really very proud of her,” said Bill Cassady, a retired biologist from Newport Beach. “They told us she was first to get a fish out of the pond.”

The couple visited Billie several times at the center where volunteers feed the animals through tubes and, when necessary, send them through “fish school” to learn how to catch fish on their own.

“It’s really very inspiring to see the dedication and hard work,” said Leila Cassady. “But I did start to wonder if they saw us as over-enthusiastic parents.”