As Sea Lion Crisis Continues, Pups Like Percevero Are Desperate

In the first three months of 2015, The Marine Mammal Center has rescued nearly as many California sea lions as we did during all of 2014.

Most of these sea lions are pups that should still be with their mothers on the Channel Islands. But sea lion mothers are having trouble finding enough food to sustain themselves and the pups they are nursing, so many of these young animals are left starving on the islands for days at a time.

Some pups tire of waiting and take off on their own—and the lucky ones end up coming ashore. A few of these pups are so desperate for food that they don’t stop at the shoreline. This is the story of one of those pups.

Once Percevero grew strong enough, he was able to transition to eating whole fish. After six weeks of care, Percevero had nearly doubled in size, gaining 23 pounds. After proving he could compete for fish with his sea lion pen-mates, Percevero was given a final exam and cleared for release.

On March 30, Percevero returned to the wild at Chimney Rock in Point Reyes National Seashore along with six other young sea lions. Ranger Wallat attended the release to see Percevero and his friends return home.

“It’s very gratifying to see Percevero and the other sea lions get a second chance to live healthy and productive lives in the ocean,” Wallat said. “We need to keep in mind that the tremendous work that goes into their rehabilitation must be matched by our efforts to protect our environment.”

NOAA officials say that the waters in this area north of San Francisco have cooled in recent weeks and fish are available, giving these healthy young animals a good chance to make it on their own.

So far this year, The Marine Mammal Center has released more than 100 healthy animals back to the wild, many of them young sea lions just like Percevero.

We’re using more than 1,000 pounds of fish a day to feed all of our patients—and at $1 a pound, our food bills are adding up. Support our Dollar-a-Pound campaign to help give all of our patients a second chance at life. 

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