Variety

This week brought a surprise to the PPMC: a Harbor Seal pup. I've never actually seen one at the center, apparently they aren't extremely uncommon this time of year. Harbor Seals follow similar mating patterns as the Elephant Seals: they begin birthing in the spring time. Although it's still pretty early in the season, it looks like some Harbor Seals have already started the process. 

This guy's name is Wexford, and hes about as long as a regular sized pillow. It was hard to take a picture of him, because he was constantly moving his head around trying to identify different sounds he would hear. He's definitely more curious than the other animals at the center. I've always noticed that most of the Elephant Seals and Sea Lions are pretty oblivious to most of the things we are doing during the day, from cleaning cages to holding down the pups during tube feedings- they are just in their own world. Wexford is the first animal who actively investigates things that are happening. When the pool in the pen next door was filling up, he wormed over to the fence to see what was making the loud noise. During tube feeding he looks slightly concerned about why we are straddling the other animals (which is more than can be said for the sea lions, who walk away in disinterest). He's also much more aggressive than the other species at the center, which indicates that he's aware of not being where should be, even at his young age. 

 

The first time I saw him I couldn't stop laughing at how small and cute he was, but whenever someone would go near him he would try to flop over and bite them (which made me laugh even harder). Even if we were coming in his pen to inspect his Sea Lion roomate, he would start a hubristic (but slow and ineffective) charge at us, and would snap if we got too close. 

When I talk to the other volunteers about Harbor Seals, I can tell by the tone in their voice that they are very difficult animals to care after. I'm the only one whos expressed an admiration for the pup, and I'm also the only one who hasn't had to care for one in the past (coincidence? probably not).

Other new additions to the Juvenile Unit this week are Samoa, Limerick, and Arco. Arco's the one in the pictures below who is laying down by himself. You can see his ribs and most of his shoulder, even when he's laying down, which is a bad sign. All three of them are severely malnourished, but Arco is the worst.

Samoa came in with an injury to his left flipper, coupled with malnourishment. His flipper is being treated, and will be fine. Hopefully he will start putting on weight now that we are giving him some fish smoothies. Limerick is really rowdy with the volunteers and with the other Sea Lions, but he gets along unusually well with the two other aggressors in the Juvy Unit (Wexford and Augustine).

Veronica is still with us, but the Sea Lion she came in with, Tuscany, didn't make it through the week. Sometimes we receive pups that are in the final stages of starvation, and even though we can administer nourishment through tubing, it might be too late. There's a certain point you can reach during starvation where it's just too late, even if you can find food for yourself. Your body just shuts down and it's in too much trouble to accept the food that would have saved it a few days earlier. One of our Elephant Seals, Tallahasse, met the same fate. 

The remaining Elephant Seal, Augustine, is still with us. He's healthy enough to get up and move around now, so we opened the back door so he could get some sun. He doesn't smell NEARLY as bad now that he's out in the open.. When I walked into his pen I thought that maybe the smell was gone.. but once I got close enough to him I was assaulted with a barrage of olfactory flashbacks from last week. He's still the same stink-horror that he was last week.. there's just more air to diffuse the smell now! 

I was trained by the senior staff on how to subdue an Elephant Seal this week. It involves approaching the animal, covering it's face while you straddle it, and getting a tube into it's mouth so another volunteer can start the tube feeding. I've seen this done a thousand times, but I've never actually performed it myself. Starting on Elephant Seals is best because they are so big, and they don't have long limbs that can be caught under your feet like the Sea Lions do. Augustine didn't give me much trouble at all, so we performed a pretty successful and stress-free tubing. 

Did I mention that their smell rubs off, and I smelled like dead cow for the rest of the day?

The remaining "big lady" from last week, Mendocino, was released. I'm really glad that the Doc (our regular vet, Dr. Evans) decided that she was levelheaded enough to not need our care. I mentioned last week that the effects of ASP from Domoic Acid would only get worse with Mendocino.. this is because we expected more signs of ASP to show up as time went on. The poisoning actually does not get progressively worse on its own: it's severity is related directly to how much Domoic Acid was injested. For Mendocino, it looks like she injested a fair amount of Domoic Acid, but not enough to completely cripple her for the rest of her life. She began eating fish and resuming somewhat normal behavior, and while she will always live with the impairments she suffered from her initial Domoic injestion, she is still "sane" enough to live life on her own. 

A new adult female has come in to take Mendocino's place. Her name is Caroline and she's extremely aggressive. She's in the same boat that the "big ladies" were in when they arrived at the PPMC: a word we've simplified down to "Domoic".

She was laying down when I began to take the pictures, but after watching me for about 5 seconds she decided she had enough, so she jumped on her flippers and charged at me full force. I managed to take a quick shot of her before I backed off.. luckily I was on the other side of the pen's wall.

Personally I think that aggressive behavior is a good sign (but I'm not a vet). If she's aware enough of her surroundings to feel threatened by me, than she isn't as absent minded as Mendocino was when she first arrived. We'll have to see how things play out for Caroline in the next few days. 

The guys in "Pen A" are up to their typical lazy sun basking. Pen A harbors the healthiest animals: the ones ready to be released. If you want to know what a healthy, happy Sea Lion is, than you'll find it here. 

I'm pretty sure next weekend is going to be the release party for a few of these guys. This one can't wait until he's free again in the open ocean!