First pup of the season!

The pup was born sometime overnight December 15-16. The Marine Mammal Center had a pool on when the first seal would be born. The winner got to give the pup a nickname, and won some cookies. Julia Stanert was the winner. She named the pup Ella, in honor of her granddaughter.

One docent reported that Ella didn't nurse right away, but she was nursing well by Monday, when I first saw her. She was already filling out her wrinkly baby skin.

For purposes of this blog, and because she has a feminine name, I'll call her 'she.' Actually, it's not possible to tell from a distance whether she is male or female.

On Tuesday, Ella was joined by two more pups, born nearby.

Ella already looks bigger than her siblings, although she is only four days older. 

Stormy Night returns to the ocean

After more than five months in rehabilitation at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Stormy Night has been released to return to her ocean home.

She was a pathetic, skinny orphan when she was rescued from a pile of kelp and driftwood back in January. She had a touch of pneumonia in her lungs from being tossed in the waves. That cleared up with medical care, but she needed food to grow big enough to cope with life as a young elephant seal on her own.

On June 20, she was big enough, and able to catch and eat fish on her own, so she was released at Chimney Rock in Point Reyes National Park.

That's her in the front, giving us a last look before she scuttles to the water. Perhaps one day someone will identify her on the beach at Piedras Blancas. Her orange flipper tag number is W0266. It's on her right flipper, as she is a female.


Credit Rebecca Ryan © The Marine Mammal Center



Stormy Night is growing up

Stormy Night, the first elephant seal pup rescue of 2017, is doing well at The Marine Mammal Center hospital in Sausalito. she has developed a cute habit of sucking on her flipper.

Photo credit The Marine Mammal Center

She sure has filled out since she was rescued as a starving pup. Here's a picture of her from those earlier days.

Photo credit: The Marine Mammal Center

She was so thin. Soon, she'll be ready for release back to her wild home.

Rescued pup update

Stormy Night, the first elephant seal pup rescue of the 2017 season, is coming right along in her rehabilitation. She's active and vocal, but hasn't taken much interest in snapping up fish yet. She continues on tube feeding. She gets three 1,000-cc (about a quart) servings of an elephant seal formula fish-shake made of sustainably caught Alaskan herring, ground up and seasoned with salmon oil, thinned with water, each day.

Stormy Night, photo by Bill Hunnewell © The Marine Mammal Center

This rich formula is helping her gain the weight she needs to return to her wild home. She now weighs 101 pounds, up from the 76 pounds she weighed when she was rescued.

 

She needs to learn to catch and eat fish before she can be safely released into the ocean. She shows some interest when the staff and volunteers at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito offer her fish.

Her whiskers, vibrissae, extend forward, a good sign. "Veterinary staff are hopeful she soon will take the next step and start identifying fish as a food source," said Diana Kramer, director of the Morro Bay center.

 

Hartley, the pup who was rescued from San Simeon beach, completed fish school in late March. "She was actively tracking fish and biting them off the string in fish school," Diana said.

Hartley, photo by Bill Hunnewell © The Marine Mammal Center

He's learning to take hand feeding of herring three times a day. "He's working on positioning and swallowing technique," she said. "He's making significant progress daily."

 

All that fish is helping him gain weight. He's now up to 83 pounds. He's progressing well and will probably be eating on his own soon.

 

All this care is expensive. TMMC is rescuing eight to ten seals a day. This is their busy season. Presently, over 90 elephant seals and more than 20 other marine mammals are patients at the hospital. They eat more than 500 pounds of food a day, at about a dollar a pound. They welcome donations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pup rescue at San Simeon Cove

Was there ever a more pathetic pup? This starving weaner stranded on  the south end of the beach at San Simeon Cove on March 21, the first day of Spring. He was reported to the center in the afternoon and by late in the day -- note the long shadows -- a team was out there to rescue him.

 

He doesn't have much energy, so capturing him was pretty easy. just surround and nudge, and into the carrier he went

 

 

Several visitors were on the beach on this sunny but windy day. They were eager to help the pup. Two offered to  help carry the heavy carrier., The pup was several hundred yards down the beach. It felt like a long way carrying him back to the truck.

 

 

They named the pup Hartley. He perked up after he got some fluids at the Morro Bay center. "He's been very vocal," said center director Diana Kramer. He was sent to the Sausalito hospital and will be evaluated and treated there. I'll post updates.

 

 

Pelicans

A flock of brown pelicans descended on the north beach at Piedras Blancas on Monday. They were slurping up fresh water in the runoff from ranchlands on the east side of Highway 1.

Many were in the water, catching fish as well.

In 2016, there were reports of a failed breeding season, and it did seem like few birds were on our beaches. I'm encouraged to see so many this year.

Rescued pup update

The first elephant seal pup rescued in the 2017 season is doing well. She's recovering from her ordeal and making progress to being released back into her ocean home.

 

Stormy Night, as she was named by her rescuers, was tossed onto a pile of driftwood and kelp when hikers heard her cry and called The Marine Mammal Center. She was brought into the Morro Bay facility January 25 and sent to the main Sausalito hospital the next day.

 

She weighed only 33.5kg, 74 pounds. That's about what seal pups weigh when they are born. She should have weighed 200 pounds or more.

 

Veterinary staff at the hospital heard harsh breathing sounds in her lungs, indicating a mild case of pneumonia. She probably inhaled sea water while she was being tossed around in the waves. She was treated with antibiotics and her lungs are now clear and healed.

 

She was evaluated as malnourished due to being separated from her mother. The staff started feeding her elephant seal formula, a rich mix of ground Alaskan herring (sustainably caught) and salmon oil, thinned with water. She got 1,000 cc's, over four cups, of that three times a day.

Volunteers Joy Sherrick and Jon Farhar tube feed Stormy Night after she was first rescued.

 

She's just started to gain weight, about two pounds. But she has turned around and is healthy, if skinny.

 

"Stormy Night’s outlook is positive," said Diana Kramer, director of the Morro Bay facility. "She’s active and vocal. It may take several weeks for her to gain back weight she lost after separating from her mother."

 

TMMC staff are offering her whole fish, and she's interested.

"It's part of the learning process," Diana said. "It's a positive step towards learning how to eat independently."