LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District has helped set up a temporary outdoor “triage” center to care for the infllux of sea lions stricken by a deadly coastal algae blooms, officials announced during a press conference Tuesday.
The Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles, located on LAUSD property within San Pedro’s Angel’s Gate Park, is overwhelmed with a large number of ill animals that are being brought in. The wave of sick sea lions has strained the facility’s resources and the outdoor accommodations that offer medical care, rehabilitation space and pools where the wildlife can recuperate before being returned to the ocean.
John Warner, Marine Mammal Care Center’s CEO, referred to it as an ongoing crisis for marine life in Southern California, with a large toxic algae bloom causing the illness. The center is filled beyond its capacity.
There were currently 113 animals at the center last Thursday; the facility is designed to hold about 100.
The 500-square-foot outdoor triage addition, on the south end of the center’s property, holds six sea lions that are among those needing the most intensive care. It can hold up to about 20, MMCC officials said.
The active participation of the school district was launched after LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho came upon a stranded sea lion in distress while he was hiking in the White Point area of the southern bluffs in San Pedro a few weeks ago.
The animal, he said, was lethargic and seemed to be in distress, Carvalho said. This was before the algae bloom issue had received much attention, he added.
“I didn’t know what to do so I alerted a lifeguard,” the superintendent said.
The center and LAUSD has had a partnership since 1989, when the property was part of a deal reached after the former Marineland of the Pacific, an oceanarium and public attraction, closed.
Ever since, the district, which remains the center’s landlord, has sent thousands of students on field trips and other educational excursions there.
Both the MMCC in San Pedro and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach have been hit hard with sick sea lions. Dolphins are also getting sick and dying, along with whales and other sea mammals.
The toxic algae blooms occur periodically, usually in the spring, flooding the centers with additional animals to treat. The animals arrive malnourished and disoriented — the toxins affect the animals’ brains — and many experience seizures. The animals can die with irreversible brain damage.
This year, Warner said, has brought an “unprecedented number of calls” to the Los Angeles facility. LAUSD’s help — as well as assistance from the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors — has provided a significant boost in resources, he added.
The county has also established a fenced-off “resting zone” at Venice Beach, where sea lions that come onshore and show some distress can be placed and watched to see if they need to be transported for additional treatment.
The center, Warner noted, just had to order 50,000 pounds of fish (for food) after running out of the monthly allotments.
The bloom appeared to start off the Channel Islands, with the Santa Barbara coastline being hit first. Sea lions have been found since stranded on many local beaches, including Hermosa, Manhattan, Venice and Santa Monica.
They can sometimes be seen seizing or thrashing about at the waterline, Warner said.
“It’s frightening to the public,” he said.
The public is urged to stay away from all marine mammals they see on the beach, a message wildlife rehabilitation officials especially want to reinforce as the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches.
Injured and ill marine mammals should be reported by calling the Marine Mammal Care Center’s rescue hotline at 800-39-WHALE.
The Venice Beach resting zone, being tried for the first time, began taking in sea lions on Tuesday, Warner said.
“These are all untried solutions we’re putting into place,” he said.
Significant recent blooms have occurred in 2012-13 (when many were stranded in what was an intense El Nino year), 2016, 2017 and 2019, said MMCC Hospital Director Lauren Palmer. But this year’s outbreak, the veterinarian said, has been a particular challenge.
A complex ecosystem and climate changes that affect ocean temperatures are all thought to combine in causing the algae bloom conditions.
“Our sea lions are ubiquitous along our coastline,” Palmer said. “They’re also our sentinels on the coast,” alerting humans to changing environmental conditions.
Some of the animals brought in do not survive, she said. But many are brought back to health with hydrating fluids, anti-seizure medications, food and rest. They are released back into the ocean but only once conditions are safer and the algae recedes. The blooms, she said, typically last from four to six weeks.
Six pups are also among those at the center, with three of them doing well, Palmer said.
One sea lion gave birth during the rescue truck ride into the center, she said.
Among the medical issues is that there is no good replacement for a mother sea lion’s milk if she is ill and stops lactating.
LAUSD is “ready to do more.” Carvalho said, and the collaboration, MMCC officials said, is making a significant difference.
Warner, walking Carvalho toward his car after the press conference, suggested the two talk soon about the future needs.
“Let’s start that now,” Carvalho replied.
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