A few weeks ago, I shared a story about spotting a young sea lion with deep bite marks from a great white shark.
Some days later I got a message from Ruth Dover who, along with her husband Sam, operate a marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation facility on the Gaviota Coast called Channel Islands Marine Wildlife Institute (CIMWI ).
Marine mammal rescue professionals captured the California sea lion pup I had written about and brought it to CIMWI, where Ruth Dover serves as managing director, and Dr. Sam Dover serves as executive director and director of veterinary medicine, research and conservation.
Jen Levine-Griffiths is the very capable stranding operations animal care manager who can handle an unruly pinniped with one hand and do a half dozen tasks with the other while teaching and organizing her small army of volunteers, who are learning their skills and building impressive resumes.
The sharkbit sea lion was issued the name #70BW. The BW means bite wound. The numeric designator showed it was the 70th critter admitted in a short period of time (it is a very busy facility).
The incredible team cleaned and treated the pup’s wounds, fought the related infection with meds inserted into small fish, which the sea lion gobbled up as if it was starving, which is an accurate assessment.
Ruth Dover contacted me to connect the dots between my sighting the critter and writing an article, it being sought out and captured for treatment and its subsequent treatments at CIMWI.
I was invited for a tour of the facility and to visit again with the sea lion. I happily accepted the offer, and was amazed at the great job these dedicated professionals are doing with severely limited resources.
When I saw #70BW, I smiled at how he was taking to the treatments and benefiting from good care. The deep wounds were healing nicely, and he was putting on weight eating 4 pounds of fish per day.
I learned most sea lions are birthed about the same time, and June 15 is considered their birthday. Our #70BW is right at one year old.
In my first chapter of this critter’s story, I called it the luckiest sea lion I had ever met. As he and I looked at each other in the CIMWI treatment room, I was thinking its fantastic luck just doubled with prospects of a long life ahead.
Ruth and Dr. Sam told me they expect a full recovery for #70BW, and anticipate a release in a couple of months, at the Channel Islands aboard an Island Packers boat. Should I find myself aboard the boat on that trip, I may well be writing a third column in the trilogy of our sea lion pup friend, #70BW.
I am all about making supportive connections, and in that spirit I recommend supporting CIMWI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that relies on volunteers, community awareness, and external financial support to sustain its day-to-day operations and advance its mission.
If you would like to make a donation or volunteer with CIMWI, please visit their website www.cimwi.org.
The Dovers are also looking for help filling their freezer with fish for the pinnipeds in their care. Search for a GoFundMe Campaign for CIMWI to help them buy quantities of commercial finfish food to keep the critters fed.
