Since the first weeks of June, local sea lions have been washing ashore, sick from poisoning.
The poisoning comes from an algae bloom that has a neurotoxin called domoic acid, which can be passed along the food chain. Sea lions can consume small fishes that have been poisoned by domoic acid, causing a condition called domoic acid toxicosis.
The Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro has been trying to treat this condition for a while.
“It presents as different types of behaviors in the animal that are abnormal,” says Dave Bader, the chief operations and education officer at the center. “You can have repetitive head movements, extreme lethargy, extreme aggressiveness, foaming at the mouth, seizures, and sometimes death.”
Poisoned sea lions strand themselves on the beach due to domoic acid toxicosis, says David Bader, the chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Care Center. Photo courtesy of Jaime Hasama, David Bader, and the Marine Mammal Care Center.
Domoic acid toxicosis also causes animals, like sea lions, to strand themselves in places like public beaches. When sea lions are reported on beaches, Bader says the Marine Mammal Care Center sends a rescue team to collect the animal, and if necessary, bring it back to the center for treatment.
“Domoic acid doesn't have an antidote,” he says. “What we can do is treat the symptoms. We can give the animals anti-seizure medicines, we can give them sedation, we can provide them with fluids that help to flush the toxins out, and really give them a safe place to rest and recuperate.”
But initially, the center got overwhelmed by the massive amount of sick sea lions. “We ran out of space. And for a few days, we couldn't take any of these animals in. They had to stay on the beach,” Bader says.
To create more space, Bader says the Los Angeles Unified School District – a longtime partner of the center – built a temporary holding area in front of the Marine Mammal Care Center. Local municipal governments also created a resting area in Venice Beach for the sea lions.
And for a time, Bader says that the center had to stop allowing visitors so that they could use the facility’s public space as a temporary holding area.
After they’ve been nursed and rehabilitated, the staff at the Marine Mammal Care Center eventually return healthy sea lions to the ocean. Photo courtesy of David Bader, Jaime Hasama, and the Marine Mammal Care Center.
But little by little, things are returning to normal, both for the sea lions and for the Marine Mammal Care Center.
“We have … some reports of animals stranding, but for the most part, we're not seeing the cases of domoic acid toxicosis in our local sea life, so it's good that the bloom has dissipated,” Bader says. “And our job now is to take the animals that we have – we still have just under 100 animals at the care center – and get them rehabilitated and released.”
Very soon, he adds, the Marine Mammal Care Center will reopen to the public.