Starving Sea Lion #s 2X Average: From Malnourished To "Bags Of Bones" - Some Require Force-Feeding
A surprising influx of malnourished and dehydrated sea lions has SeaWorld San Diego and its trainers working overtime to nurse them back to health before returning them to the wild.
More than 550 marine mammals have been rescued so far in 2015, which is more than double the usual number, said SeaWorld spokesman David Koontz.
“We saw sea lion pups coming in in December weaned by their mothers months earlier than normal,” Koontz said. “They were coming in very emaciated, 18 to 20 pounds as opposed to (normal) 35 pounds or more, only a few pounds above their birth weight. They’ve been very malnourished and in some cases, bags of bones.”
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The condition of many sea lions, particularly those rescued early on, has been so poor that they’ve had to be force fed and actually retrained to eat, Koontz said. “These pups have not eaten for a while, so their systems have kind of shut down: They can’t eat whole fish,” he said. “It’s a double-whammy because they also get much of their water from fish, so they’re also coming in dehydrated.”
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http://sdnews.com/view/full_story/26541211/article-Sea-lion-strandings-on-San-Diego-beaches-reach-record-numbers
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yeah, I'm introducing some levity into a tragic situation. Grab a lawyer and a place in line!
