>> PEGGY PICO: The unusual surge of stranded sea lions stretches from San Diego to SantaĘBarbara,
nearly 300 have turned up on San Diego beaches leaving in their wake a lot of unanswered
questions and unusually sightings, like the injured pup who climbed into a man's car on
Pacific Beach or the week before when the sea lion crossed with the street to get a
nearby see the at a restaurant in La Jolla.
Joining me is Cynthia Smith executive director of the national marine mammal foundation and
David Koontz of San Diego Sea World.
Thank you for being here.
David six more pups showed up this weekend?
>> That is correct.
>> PEGGY PICO: How many has Sea World picked up and in what condition are they?
>> We rescued 212 marine mammals of of which 296 have been California sea lions, stranding
on the beaches all the way up to orange country and they're coming in under weight, mall newer
nished, dehydrated and we are getting those animals back to the park, stabilizing their
condition, starting to treat them and rehabilitate them and then with try to do a more in depth
medical examination to determine if there are complicating factors.
>> PEGGY PICO: The rehabilitation, are you running out of room?
>> No, sea World will never be at capacity, we are committed to helping any animal in
need of assistance.
And it depends on the animals, some respond to treatment quickly, they will be with us
for several weeks and some more.
>> PEGGY PICO: How many do you have right now?
>> 170 in the house.
>> PEGGY PICO: Cynthia, how does the number of stranded animals compare on average to
other years, specifically the sea lions.
>>> Sure, we look at the historical average, we're over four times higher.
If we look at the 2012 numbers we're more than 10 times higher, for these sick pups
coming in.
>> PEGGY PICO: I understand over 100 is typical?
>> That's right, if you look at 2012 there were 88 reported stranded sea lion pups, now
we're over a thousand so that is alarming.
>> PEGGY PICO: NOAH is a federal agency focused on the oceans atmosphere and condition and
they have called this an epidemic and they have a team of investigators trying to figure
out the cause what are the reasons, do they think?
>> That's right, NOAH has set up a team and the leading hypotheses and this is linked
to the food source and there is potentially a fish shortage in the Southern California
waters of sardines and anchovys, and our team is going out to provide medical response to
the animals in Southern California and look into the investigation as to why this is happening
and is it linked to the health of the association.
>> PEGGY PICO: It begs the question if there is a lack of fish what's causing that but
we don't have answers for that yet.
>>> That's correct so we're working hard to come up with a good plan to support that plan
and the Fisheries will be figuring out how it can be linked to the issue.
>> PEGGY PICO: David I presume if we find a stranded sea pup or animal we should not
try to feed them fish, correct?
>> That's correct, no one should approach a pup on the beach.
We ask them to contact a life guard, local law enforcement or call Sea World on our rescue
hot line and we will send trained members to assist that animal and get them back to
the park >> PEGGY PICO: And there are links with your
phone number and also with the information on the foundation on our web site so they
can reach you that way.
Cynthia, how long is it going to take before we anticipate results from the investigation
and while it's going on what can we do to help?
>> The launch of the investigation was last week.
It could take weeks to months, potentially years to figure this out.
We're hoping that we'll have data soon that will help point us at a primary cause, people
can help out now, the San Diego public can help us with the investigation and there is
an emergency fund set up between the foundations, so on the web site there is a place to give
to that so people can actively support us caring for these animals and figuring out
why so we can potentially address the problem and help prevent it from happening again.
>> PEGGY PICO: Absolutely, thank you for this update and as I said there is more on our
web site and they can reach out to you to get even more information, thanks again.
>>> Thank you.