A sea lion pup recovering at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) |
LAGUNA BEACH -- Dozens of starving sea lion pups are turning up on beaches in Orange County, and scientists say El Nino climate conditions may be to blame.
As El Nino warms Pacific waters, fish are fleeing to colder areas, leaving the sea lions with little to eat.
The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna beach says it's seen a threefold increase this year in the number of sea lion pups stranded on beaches in the area. It has rescued 27 malnourished pups since January, most of them under 6 months old.
When forced to go without food, the animals bodies' start digesting their blubber and muscle to keep them warm. It takes months of work to nurse the pups back to health.
Only 11 of the rescued pups have survived, which is far below the center's usual recovery rate of 80 percent.
Last year, marine mammals centers along the California coast treated record numbers of malnourished adult sea lions, but this year pups are being hit harder, probably because nursing mothers have to choose between feeding their young and surviving.
A similar thing happened to young sea lions during the last El Nino in the late 1990s, sending them en masse to marine centers up and down the California coast.
This season's deaths haven't reached record levels, according to regional wildlife biologists, but they could.
And the problems aren't limited to sea lion pups.
Some experts think El Nino is at least partially to blame for the hundreds of sick pelicans being taken in by bird centers in the Los Angeles area in recent months.
As El Nino warms Pacific waters, fish are fleeing to colder areas, leaving the sea lions with little to eat.
The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna beach says it's seen a threefold increase this year in the number of sea lion pups stranded on beaches in the area. It has rescued 27 malnourished pups since January, most of them under 6 months old.
When forced to go without food, the animals bodies' start digesting their blubber and muscle to keep them warm. It takes months of work to nurse the pups back to health.
Only 11 of the rescued pups have survived, which is far below the center's usual recovery rate of 80 percent.
Last year, marine mammals centers along the California coast treated record numbers of malnourished adult sea lions, but this year pups are being hit harder, probably because nursing mothers have to choose between feeding their young and surviving.
A similar thing happened to young sea lions during the last El Nino in the late 1990s, sending them en masse to marine centers up and down the California coast.
This season's deaths haven't reached record levels, according to regional wildlife biologists, but they could.
And the problems aren't limited to sea lion pups.
Some experts think El Nino is at least partially to blame for the hundreds of sick pelicans being taken in by bird centers in the Los Angeles area in recent months.
