Malnourished Sea Lions Are Becoming the Norm

There has been a mysterious increase in malnourished marine mammals in northern California according to information from the area's Marine Mammal Center. "We're way ahead in the numbers this year. We have twice as many animals as we should," said marine veterinarian Bill Van Bonn.

Some officials believe the increase in undernourished sea lions may be due to a decline in the populations of the smaller fish that sea lions eat. The Center, which has treated marine mammals for 35 years, just recently opened a new $32 million facility to keep up with the demand. On average, the Center treats about 600 rescued animals each year. Last year, however, they treated 800 and in recent weeks, staff have rescued 10 more sea lions a day than usual.

The new facility is equipped with state-of-the-art labs for analyzing tissue and blood samples and surgeons are on-staff. Usual patients include elephant seals, harbor seals and California sea lions. And while only about half of them survive, all of them contribute to the Center's massive tissue bank to aid scientific research.

The new Center is "green" with a nautical twist. The ceiling tiles are made of seaweed. Solar panels are used to shield the pens as well as to provide about 10% of the Center's power.

Global warming has increased the ocean's acidity and may have contributed to the loss of food for sea lions. This is one of the puzzles that scientists hope to solve as they nurse the weak sea lions back to health.