Mammal Center Caring for 4 Newborn Sea Lions

Four newborn sea lions, said to be residual victims of El Nino, are under 24-hour care at San Pedro’s Marine Mammal Care Center, officials said.

“Luckily, they have each other,” said Jackie Ott, center director. “They’re mother-dependent for up to a year, so we’ll be tied up for a while here.”

The pups were abandoned on local beaches and brought to the nonprofit treatment facility by animal control agencies two weeks ago, when they were just two days old. Two of the pups still had their umbilical cords attached when they were brought in, Ott said.

The baby sea lions, which will be fed with bottles and tubes for at least two months, are being cared for at the center along with 60 other marine mammals. They will later be released into a colony.