Soaking in sunshine doesn’t equal distress for marine mammals

It’s about to be the busiest time of year for volunteers at the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, as marine mammals like elephant seals and sea lions sprout up across the coastline.

“A lot of times, seals and sea lions show up on the beach for normal reasons: to rest, recuperate and to warm up; so just because you see and seal or sea lion on the beach doesn’t mean there’s a problem. However, sometimes [their problems can be] pretty obvious – they can be very skinny, they can have injuries, wounds, traumatic events,” explains CIMWI Veterinarian, Dr. Sam Dover.

The organization is asking people to call their hotline so volunteers can determine if the animals need help.

Marine mammals that are in any type of distress get brought to their facility near Gaviota.

“We try really hard to keep our wild animals wild – so we wear bibs for our personal protection and it makes us look not so much like a regular human out on the beach,” says the facility’s Animal Care Manager, Jennifer Levine.

Volunteers stuff fish with prescriptions designed for each specific animal. Most of the wildlife treated here stay for about 75 days before being released back into the wild.

In order to keep these animals coming back to our beaches, humans have to do their part as well.

“Conservation is pretty much all encompassing – it starts basically in our homes with recycling our trash to being careful what you put in the sewer, being careful what you put in the storm drains. Everything that you do on land eventually ends up in the ocean,” Dover says.

Now if you think you see a marine mammal that could use the help of the institute, they ask that you call their rescue hotline at 805-567-1505.