Rescued From Certain Starvation, Six Ocean-Loving Pups Return to the Waves : Unsealing Their Fate

It was mankind’s turn to challenge nature.

Six sea lions and seals rescued along Orange County’s shoreline, where they were found nearly starved to death by severe food shortages attributed to El Nino, were returned to the ocean Sunday for a second try at life. Thanks to nursing by Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach and donations from dozens of strangers, the six creatures were treated for various illnesses and have each gained about 40 pounds.

The pups were transported from the center to the shore, and their sponsors, including a local Boy Scout troop, watched and cheered them on as they made their way into the surf and disappeared into Crescent Bay’s cold waters.

“He looks really good,” Colleen Ray said of the harbor seal named Leo that she and her husband, Bruce, donated $150 to “adopt.” “He’s fattened up and healthy. It’s so great.”

Up and down the California coast, the sea mammals have been experiencing a severe food shortage attributed to the oceanic warming phenomenon called El Nino. The warming trend 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 rookery, or breeding grounds, increasing the probability that they will not return to provide nutrient-rich milk for their pups, said Robert DeLong, one of the nation’s leading marine biology experts at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle.

DeLong, who has studied sea lions for more than 20 years, said it is likely that the stranded sea lions and seals found in recent months on Orange County beaches and taken to the Laguna Beach shelter were from rookeries on San Nicholas, Santa Barbara and San Clemente islands.

The last year has been extraordinarily busy at the Friends of the Sea Lion center, said Michele Hunter, who is in charge of the rehabilitation program. At this time last year, the center was rehabilitating three starving sea lions. This year, it has 30 of the creatures.

Taking care of the sea mammals is expensive. For $350, one animal can be fed and treated for two months, Hunter said. And the number of starving pups is likely to increase this year.

“The frequency of these juveniles coming ashore is going to dramatically increase from now through June,” the time that the El Nino phenomenon is expected to last, DeLong said. “We’re just seeing it earlier.”

*

DeLong said that during a visit last month to San Miguel Island, where he does most of his research, he spent time stacking up the bodies of dead seal pups who have starved in recent months.

Three out of four fur seals born on San Miguel last June already have died, and DeLong expects to see the same fatality rate among the sea lion population by summer.

DeLong is unsentimental about it all, calling it part of the natural cycle of life.

“It is a natural phenomenon that these animals are exposed to every four to five years,” DeLong said. “And they have to evolve to cope with this. . . . Those pups whose mothers are not able to cope with the environmental changes perish.”

DeLong added that overall, the species is healthy.

“Don’t lose sight of the fact that this population over the last two decades has doubled and doubled again,” he said. “They increased at an annual rate in excess of 5%. So even in the light of the increased mortality due to the El Nino, the long-term trajectory for the population will continue to grow and is very healthy.”

Though the future is uncertain for the six marine creatures released to the wild on Sunday, at least they were given a second try, Hunter said.

“We are just hoping for the best,” she said.

Six-year-old Alex Sabet, a member of a Mission Viejo Boy Scout troop that adopted a sea lion named Johnny, watched as his friend swam out to sea.

“I’m happy he’s going back into the ocean because that is where he lives,” he said. “We will miss him though.”