Friday, May 29, 2009
sad quick ending
Hey, like life, crap happens and Palomina succumbed to malnutrition one week after we rescued him/her. It was a great experience however. The girls and I went to the city the next day after the rescue and purchased little Pier 93 magnets with a sea lion on it.....we won't forget the memories.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
May 18 Rescue
Hi, My name is Maria and my daughter (from Colorado) and her girlfriend and I discovered a lone California Sea Lion pup on the Santa Cruz North Harbor beach near the Crow's Nest on May 18th, 2009. The weather was overcast, however, it was the first time the girls had seen the beach so finding/rescuing this pup made it very special.
The Girlfriend, Lauren, named the seal pup, "Neal", but unbeknownst to us if a name is used it cannot be reused for ten years. The pup was renamed "Palomina" and is now at the hospital at Sausalito - north of San Fran. This hospital is not open to the public but I have been able to call to see how the pup is doing.
"Pal" for short, is doing well. Pal receives a shot of pennicillin every 48 hours and is being fed via a stomach tube.
When we found Pal, he/she was lying in a "sand depression" on the beach. Pal's coat looked like it had been shot with a shotgun and Pal had an open wound (no active bleeding) at the top of the one fipper we could see. I called 911 immediately after telling the girls not to touch the pup and got the Marine Rescue number. I called the number that 911 gave me only to hear a personal dating message...lol....seems I had the wrong area code! Another call to 911 had me in touch with the Marine Rescue. Sue Andrews, the director of the Monterey Bay Operations, informed me that the pup could have a curable pox disease. The pup didn't try to bite us (we never got that close) but didn't try to move away from us either.
Some people on the beach told us that sometimes the mother Sea Lion will leave the baby on the beach while she feeds but Sue Andrews told me that the pup was too large (two and a half to three feet long) and was a yearling and probably on his/her own now.
The volunteers from Marine Rescue came a couple of hours later when we were in Capitola and scooped up the pup.
When I called the next day, the news was the pup was doing ok and had tried to bite the handlers so that was a heathly sign. Sue Andrews told me that pups rescued and who have spent time in the hospital are fitted with orange flipper tags upon release and that the pups used by research have purple tags.
Sue Andrews informed me that Palominia will probably not be available for adoption but that other rescued animals are up for adoption on their website = http://www.marinerescuecenter.org/
I hope to get pictures of the release of Palomina back into the wild when that day happens. These animals are beautiful and native to this area of California. They deserve our help.
The Girlfriend, Lauren, named the seal pup, "Neal", but unbeknownst to us if a name is used it cannot be reused for ten years. The pup was renamed "Palomina" and is now at the hospital at Sausalito - north of San Fran. This hospital is not open to the public but I have been able to call to see how the pup is doing.
"Pal" for short, is doing well. Pal receives a shot of pennicillin every 48 hours and is being fed via a stomach tube.
When we found Pal, he/she was lying in a "sand depression" on the beach. Pal's coat looked like it had been shot with a shotgun and Pal had an open wound (no active bleeding) at the top of the one fipper we could see. I called 911 immediately after telling the girls not to touch the pup and got the Marine Rescue number. I called the number that 911 gave me only to hear a personal dating message...lol....seems I had the wrong area code! Another call to 911 had me in touch with the Marine Rescue. Sue Andrews, the director of the Monterey Bay Operations, informed me that the pup could have a curable pox disease. The pup didn't try to bite us (we never got that close) but didn't try to move away from us either.
Some people on the beach told us that sometimes the mother Sea Lion will leave the baby on the beach while she feeds but Sue Andrews told me that the pup was too large (two and a half to three feet long) and was a yearling and probably on his/her own now.
The volunteers from Marine Rescue came a couple of hours later when we were in Capitola and scooped up the pup.
When I called the next day, the news was the pup was doing ok and had tried to bite the handlers so that was a heathly sign. Sue Andrews told me that pups rescued and who have spent time in the hospital are fitted with orange flipper tags upon release and that the pups used by research have purple tags.
Sue Andrews informed me that Palominia will probably not be available for adoption but that other rescued animals are up for adoption on their website = http://www.marinerescuecenter.org/
I hope to get pictures of the release of Palomina back into the wild when that day happens. These animals are beautiful and native to this area of California. They deserve our help.
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