Starving Sea Lion Pups California - For the third time in a row, starving sea lion pups are washing up on the shore of California. Experts are already panicking over the latest development. What exactly is happening that has led to more than a hundred sea lion pups getting washed up on shore?
SFGate reports that seven month old starving sea lion pups California have been increasing in number over the week. This is the time that these pups should be with their mothers in Mexico or Channel Islands. Researchers are still unsure as to what phenomena is occurring as to why the pups have been separated from their mothers and been washed up on shore. This is not the first time in history.
"Our numbers are twice what they were in 2013," says David Bard, operations director of the San Pedro center in a report by Daily Mail. "In 2013, we saw an unprecedented number of rescues, it was a record then."
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in the year 2013 starving sea lion pups California was recorded to be at least 1,500. Some of these sea lion pups were extremely underweight, dehydrated, and emaciated.
"If this continues," shares Shawn Johnson, director of veterinary medicine for Monterey Bay's Marine Mammal Center in a report by Salon, adding, "There will be some long-term effects on the sea lion population."
As for the theory as to why starving sea lion pups California has increased in number, marine scientists blame warming waters. Nursing sea lions search for food in farther away places, abandoning their young. The pups left alone are starving and desperate for food thus jump into the water which inadvertently leads them to be pulled to the coastline.
For now, around 250 starving sea lion pups California have been rescued. After receiving care at the Marine Mammal Center, the California sea lions are led back to the sea. The latest to return to the sea are Caelum, Orbit, and Atlas.
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