Solo Salty

Salty is a sea lion pup without a home.

He came ashore Thursday morning near the lifeguard tower at Beach Boulevard. On any other day, he would have been scooped up and taken to a shelter that cares for orphaned pups.

But these are the days of El Nino, and shelters up and down the California coast are crammed to capacity with sea lions.

Salty has been roaming around the beach as lifeguards wait for a spot to open up at the only Orange County shelter that cares for sick sea mammals.

The Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach was so full of pups Friday that officials had to convert the gift shop and administrative offices into makeshift quarters for the animals.

The center and its volunteers are caring for 81 sea lions. At this time last year, only seven creatures were rehabilitating there.

Ann Bull, the center’s director, said volunteers have not had to care for so many animals since the destructive storms of 1983.

The majority of sea lions at the center are pups like Salty who have experienced a severe food shortage attributed to El Nino. The ocean-warming phenomenon is blamed for driving away the creatures’ favorite foods, such as squid, anchovies, herring and sardines.

As a result, the mother sea lions are forced to hunt longer and farther from their rookeries, or breeding grounds, increasing the probability that they will not return to provide nutrient-rich milk for their pups.

As emaciated pups, and some adults, are driven ashore, the center’s resources are being stretched to the limit, Bull said. Its bill for fish feed has increased to $2,200 a week from $700.

“We’re hoping to have enough finances to get us through this El Nino,” she said.

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Taking care of the mammals is expensive. For $175 a month, one sea lion can be treated with antibiotics and fed a diet of protein powder, syrup for low blood-sugar levels and high-grade herring. Many sea lions need to stay at the center up to three months, Bull said.

She added that the facility was unable to take in Salty (who got his name from the lifeguards) because it was so crowded.

“If we lose or release an animal, he’s the first one we’ll take,” Bull said. “The more animals I take, the more I compromise the health of other animals.”

Officials at the Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach are willing to help Salty, but federal wildlife officials told the center it could not take the animal in because it does not have permits to capture and treat marine mammals.

Greg Hickman, a volunteer at the center, said that deciding what to do with Salty presented a moral dilemma.

“I believe this El Nino is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and it’s probably nature and natural selection at work,” he said. “But we still need to get the animals off the beach. If we don’t, people who see this cute furry animal are going to take him home to care for him. That’s not going to do the animal any good.”

Lt. Mike Beuerlein of the Huntington Beach Marine Safety Division said lifeguards were helping to keep onlookers away from Salty.

On Friday afternoon, as the driving rain and cold winds pounded the pup, lifeguards placed him in a cage and took him inside their office near the pier.