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| Sick sea lion pups and seals stranding at record pace |
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| Jueves, 18 de Junio de 2009 07:24 | |||
The majority of the animals stranding are California sea lion pups. The National Marine Fisheries Services does not yet have a cause for the significant increase in ailing animals and a wildlife biologist said there could be a combination of reasons why it is happening, including climate change and lack of food. They are not new born pups. (These were) born last year, and probably just weaned from their mothers,” said Fisheries wildlife biologist Joe Cordaro. “They’re out there trying to find food. They’re not finding food. We don’t know why. That’s the dilemma.” The U.S. Climate Prediction Center said in a new advisory that an El Nino of undetermined size appears to be forming in the equatorial Pacific. In simplest terms, sea surface temperatures become unusually warm in the eastern equatorial Pacific during El Nino, a phenomenon that can vary greatly in intensity. This warming sets off oceanographic and atmospheric chain reaction that can make winter storms stronger, especially when the northern jet stream dips south. Warm ocean current meeting cold water off California’s coast also pushes bait fish away or deeper, something the marine mammals feed on. For the last six weeks the Laguna center has been operating in emergency mode, at times rescuing five emaciated sea lion pups or seals a day. The center is now spending about $500 a day on fish to nurse ailing pups back to health and has spent $48,000 on food this year to date, a 64 percent increase as compared with the same period last year. Less than 10 percent of the animals have died and autopsies have found fish hooks in their stomachs and hook injuries on their faces from trying to get food near piers. (From ocregister.com, by Vik Jolly) 
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The Pacific Marine Mammal Center is experiencing an unusually busy year caring for ailing sea lion pups and seals stranded along the Orange County coastline, in what officials say is on pace to be a record-breaking year. Some of the weaned sick pups are dying, but “mostly they’re just very malnourished and we’re trying to get their nutritional needs back up,” said Michele Hunter, director of animal care at the non-profit center.
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