SAN DIEGO

Rescuers Capture Wounded Sea Lion, Remove Blade

Nicknamed Bubba by locals, the sea mammal was transported to SeaWorld San Diego for follow-up care.

Volunteers and a professional rescue team from SeaWorld came to the aid of a sea lion that appeared Saturday on a dock in Channel Islands Harbor with the handle of a bladed weapon protruding from his body.

"This animal would have died because of this impalement," said Keith Yip, curator of mammals at SeaWorld San Diego and leader of its rescue team.

The male sea lion, estimated to weigh 600 pounds or more, had been overnighting on an empty dock, then disappearing during the day. Concerned boaters and live-aboards in the harbor dubbed him Bubba and worried that he might not survive until rescuers could get him help.

Rescuers arrived early Tuesday morning, shortly after Bubba had disappeared again into the water, and they awaited his return. One search boat, the Captain Jax, patrolled the harbor the entire day without a sighting until just before 5:30 p.m., when Heidi Dinkler checked back at the spot near the end of dock B where the sea lion had been overnighting and found him swimming nearby. Dinkler, a retired Kern County Fire Battalion Chief, radioed the second rescue boat.

"He's back!" Dinkler said in lowered voice as not to startle the animal. Within minutes the sea lion perched itself atop the end of the dock.

NBC4 was riding with Dinkler at the time of the sighting, and remained in the Captain Jax for the duration of the mission, affording an up-close view of the rescue.

On the dock, the sea lion was darted twice with a tranquilizer, then dove into the water and resisted the efforts of rescuers to capture him for nearly two frustrating hours. With the effect of the tranquilizer starting to wear off, a third dart was fired and stuck, but still the sea lion was able to back out of a net every time it was placed over his head.

Team members were beginning to worry that they would have to postpone the effort on account of darkness when he was finally netted using an extra-long net provided by the Coast Guard. Harbor Patrol also assisted in spotting and herding the sea lion.

After Bubba was brought to shore, Yip and veterinarian Sam Dover, DVM, discovered the blade was so deeply embedded it had to be cut out with a scalpel.

"It angers me," said Yip as he held up the weapon. "You know, it's not right. There's no animal that deserves this kind of treatment."

"Clearly it was done intentionally," said Dover, founder of the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (CIMWI), which organized the rescue effort.

The blade was taken as evidence for follow up investigation. Harming a sea lion is a federal offense under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, enforced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA's office of investigation will attempt to determine how the sea lion was wounded, Martina Sagapolu, deputy special agent in charge, said.

Who stabbed the sea lion remains unknown. NOAA is encouraging anyone with information to call its hotline number, 800-853-1964.

Boaters were stunned and angry over the wound that was inflicted.

"I've seen him about three days ago, it was the first time it was here," said Kenny Knoll, who lives aboard a boat near the dock where Bubba appeared.

"But this was vicious, this was," Tony Raimondo said. "I think someone must have gashed the thing because when you look at that gash, it was continuous -- it didn't happen by accident."

Sometimes loud and aggressive -- even known to steal fish from a catch -- sea lions are not always popular in harbors.

Just last month, sport fisherman Dan Carlin was holding a fish for a photo while motoring back to dock in San Diego's Mission Bay when a sea lion leapt to snatch it from his grasp.

The sea lion bit Carlin's hand and pulled him down some 20 feet underwater before he broke free and escaped, he told interviewers.

In Channel Islands Harbor on New Year's Day, a fisherman who had been cutting bait on a dock was bitten in the leg by a sea lion and sent into the water. The same sea lion continued to loiter near the dock for another month and at one point he struck it with a pole to ward it off, the fisherman said. The fisherman identified himself as Jerry and his account of the January incident was corroborated by others in the harbor.

That sea lion had different coloration from the wounded one that was rescued Tuesday, Jerry said, and he expressed doubt they are the same animal.

From his dinghy, Knoll was able to follow the rescue until its conclusion. After Bubba was placed in a safety cage for transport to San Diego, Knoll was able to get a close look.

"Amazing!" he exclaimed, visibly relieved that the days of suspense were over.

Dover and Yip expressed confidence that after treatment, the sea lion will be able to return to the ocean.

Yip returned to SeaWorld with Bubba. Dover said planned to return to Santa Barbara to resume working with mammals oiled by last week's spill. Its draw on resources was a factor that kept volunteers from getting to the sea lion sooner, he said.

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