Sea lion rescue

A small sea lion was stranded on the south beach at the rookery on Thursday. My husband Gordon and I were on the team that rescued him and brought him to the Morro Bay Marine Mammal Center facility for treatment.

He looked pretty bad on the beach.

Fortunately, there weren't many seals near him. That makes it possible for people to get down on the beach and retrieve him. That's him, the little dot at the center of the photo.

As soon as he saw the animal carrier, though, he wanted to escape. Either someone has tried to rescue him before, or he was reading our minds.

One of the rescuers threw a net over him to keep him from going back into the water. Another held a herding board to contain him.

He mustered energy to try to escape.

They got the carrier down over the cliff.

He went into the carrier without any trouble, but the net was caught on his nose.

They got him untangled so they could secure the door and let him settle down.

They hauled the carrier back up the cliff

and over the fence.

He made the trip back to Morro Bay in the back of the pickup. Once there, he snapped at his rescuers but they were able to give him some subcutaneous fluids to sustain him. No diagnosis yet as to what's wrong with him. His back was very twisted and he seemed unable to move his left side.

In the spirit of the season, he was named Elf.

Update: Unfortunately, he was too sick and did not survive the night. MMC vets will perform a necropsy to determine what was wrong with him.