Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
According to the most recent count prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2,460 stranded sea lions — almost all pups — have been scooped off California beaches during the first three and a half months of 2015.
Santa Barbara beaches have been hit especially hard. Given that California’s two main sea lion rookeries are located just off Santa Barbara’s coast — San Miguel and San Nicolas islands — that’s not surprising. But the challenge of stranded pups transcends Santa Barbara…
Read Full Article, Santa Barbara Independent
Unprecedented sea lion strandings in California linked to warmer Pacific, Reuters (02-19-2015)
The strandings of a record number of sea lion pups along the California coast this year are linked to a puzzling weather pattern that has warmed their Pacific Ocean habitat and likely impacted fish populations they rely on for food, federal scientists said…
Starving Sea Lion Pups Stranding on California Coast, View AP News Video
