Seal of Approval for Rescue Effort

The Laguna Beach facility that rescues injured sea creatures and attempts to restore their health has been demonstrating its value again, as it usually does when the climatic condition known as El Nino hits Southern California.

Last Sunday, workers at the Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center released back into the ocean six sea lions and seals rescued along Orange County’s shore.

The animals had been fattened up, each gaining about 40 pounds. They had also had their injuries treated.

The Laguna Beach center, and others along the California coast, can find the calls for assistance overwhelming in some years. An official said the center was treating three starving sea lions a year ago. This year, it has 30. During the El Nino condition several years ago, the number surpassed 80.

That strains the budget as well. So the contributions from donors who “adopt” the mammals by giving the center money to care for them are especially welcome now.

It can cost $350 to feed and care for a sea lion at the Laguna Beach facility for two months. Among this year’s donors was a Mission Viejo Cub Scout troop, whose members watched the sea lions swim off last weekend.

Seal pups especially have been at risk this winter. El Nino has made the waters warmer, so adult female seals have to dive deeper for anchovies.

As they do, they use up blubber needed for lactation, and their pups do not get enough milk. On San Miguel Island, 50 miles off the Ventura County coast, three of every four fur seals born last June had died by year’s end. Sea lions are expected to die in large numbers as well.

Stories and, especially, pictures of the sea lions in distress have led to an outpouring of public compassion. That’s not surprising, given the cuteness of the mammals. But it has obscured the fact that the species is healthy and, in fact, has quadrupled in numbers in the last two decades.

Still, efforts to care for our injured marine neighbors are important. The Laguna Beach center, its donors and volunteers help ease the burden on government animal-care facilities, which also usually have too many calls for service and too few funds.