Tag Archives: injury

Sea lion juvenile

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As Ecological Reserve Warden,  I was concerned with the report of continued blasting by the DND given the recent noting of a nursing northern sea lion at Race Rocks. The following is an account of the concern, starting with an e-mail and pictures from the Ecoguardian, Ryan Murphy

Subject “New Development”
Sept 27,2011

“I’m not sure if the LGL guys noticed this or not… but we have a nursing Steller sea lion pup on Great Race.  You’ll see in the photos that the mother is definitely lactating and the pup is nursing on the rock above the jetty (West side).  Since Eumetopias jubatus is listed under SARA as Special Concern, I believe this is very significant.  DND’s activity at Bentinck Island has not included intervals between blasts to reduce sea lion stampedes, and this pup is definitely at risk of trampling if DND continues their activities as they have for the past 2 days.-
Subject: continued blasting
Date:   September 28, 2011 8:30:18 AM PDT

“No need to worry about DND blasting, the landing of LGL personnel and subsequent standing around at the jetty caused a mass stampede with about 50 animals taking to the water including the pup.”

Subject Update
Date:   September 28, 2011 9:26:18 AM PDT
“Just so you know, the larger blasts are still coming back to back.  I don’t know if LGL communicated the need for increased intervals, but regardless there is no change.  The sea lions continued to be disturbed and take to the water with the rapid succession blasts.”

Subject: update
Date:   September 28, 2011 4:57:03 PM PDT
“The pup has been back since at least 14:30.  I have not seen its mother and it is sporting a fresh 2″ cut on its shoulder.  Otherwise looks to be ok, it has been sitting upright trying to stay awake and nodding off as babies will.”
Subject:    Re: New development
Date:   September 29, 2011 7:04:02 AM PDT

“The pup is still here this morning, the mother is not with it.”

Subject: DND report
Date:   September 29, 2011 9:21:24 AM PDT

“As per the log at 9:21 this morning:
Two absolutely massive explosions that shook the house occurred only 10 seconds apart.  The glass panes in the windows rattled against their metallic frames.  At least 70 sea lions stampeded into the water, completely clearing out entire haul out areas.  About 20 sea lions stampeded through the area where the Steller pup was resting.”

As a result of this account of events, I sent an e-mail to BC Parks and DND administration stating the following:

From: Garry Fletcher
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 10:20 AM
Subject: Fwd: New development

I was very concerned to receive the following  reports and images  from Ryan Murphy our Guardian at  Race Rocks. I think it warrants a followup considering the concerns we have for marine mammals being disturbed by human activities, especially those which are SARA listed.
Surely they have enough data by now to show that the window for doing this blasting program might perhaps be reconsidered.  We would appreciate hearing of any followup .

FOLLOWUP:  So far ( November, 2011) there has been none. The juvenile and mother were not seen again, research by LGL  (LGL who are referred to are the DND contracted research group who is at the island again this year to make observations on the effects of detonations at Bentinck Island.) The disturbance to animals by DND blasting continued unabated over the next few days.  Their previous reports up to 2010 are included here. The report for this year will be added here when it is available.

Slow death thanks to a Fisher’s discarded fish net-binding hoop.

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Ryan has more images of injury on his Flickr site:

rmslowdeath2010See this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.

Ryan titled this one Slow death.
Something could be done about these entanglement injuries. DFO just has to have the determination to counter the Commercial Fishing lobby and insit on regulations to ban the disposal of fishing gear at sea or make biodegradable releases on these fish net hoops.

 

Census and orca

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Orca: 2
Two transient orcas were spotted this morning travelling westwards between Great Race and Middle Race. A number of whale watching boats were in pursuit.
Elephant Seal: 3
Misery has been hauled up behind the boathouse for several days now, while Bertha is beside the fuel hose container. A small, young elly is NW of the Science House. She has a green tag that reads 4252 in her flipper.

Sad to report our first neck ring sighting this year. A juvenile California sea lion was hauled out with a group of ~9 other sea lions; its neck was constricted and lacerated by a ring of marine garbage. Given the numbers of California sea lions spotted here so far this season, this sighting fits the 1-2% entanglement rate observed here last fall.

Wounded shoulder on Northern Sea lion

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rmshoulderjan2010Injuries on the sea lions: Ryan recorded them with images on his Flickr site: A pretty nasty looking bite wound on this adult male. My first thought was it could have been an orca or shark, but looking at other images of similar bite wounds makes me think this was from another sea lion.

See this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.

Entangled sea lion

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See other images of injuries on Ryan’s  Flickr site:

See this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.

rmropedec132009A Steller sea lion entangled in rope was spotted at Race Rocks today (12/13/09). The rope appears to be snagged in the rocks and the animal may be tethered to the island. Tomorrow DND will be blasting about 1 mile north of here, an event that usually causes all sea lions hauled out to stampede into the water. If this animal is stuck on land, an attempt may be made to disentangle it.

See the account of its release at https://racerocks.ca/racerock/admin/intervention/2009entangle.htm

Further comments from resident marine scientist and ecoguardian at Race Rocks Ryan Murphy
: December 21 2009

Ryan was interviewed for this article in the Goldstream Gazette: Daring Sealion Rescue at Race Rocks

“Normally, neither DFO or the Vancouver Aquarium will intervene with entangled pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), but this case was special for a number of reasons.
1.  The sea lion was actually tethered to the rocks.  These animals are really tough and can often survive for years with their entanglements.  If tranquilized, these animals would take to the water and most likely drown before a rescue team could get to it.  This wasn’t the case here and so a rescue operation was a viable option.
2.  Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) like this one are listed as a species of special concern under SARA and as such are afforded a higher priority than other more abundant species like harbour seals and california sea lions.
3.  This animal was most likely spotted within 24 hours of its entanglement and was still in relatively good health.  Mike Demarchi of LGL who was on the island monitoring DND activity on nearby Bentinck Island and Rocky Point first spotted it on the morning of the 13th and his team and I were able to keep a very close eye on it during the daylight hours.  It was reported to DFO’s Observe, Record, Report (ORR) line (1-800-465-4336) and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Centre (at 604-258-SEAL (7325) or via the emergency phone at 604-862-1647).  A case like this on an offshore haul out would most likely have resulted in death by starvation, hypothermia, or drowning long before it was sighted.  In the 3 days between the first sighting (first photograph) and its successful rescue, this animal had further tangled its tether from about 10m to 3m and exacerbated the wound to its flipper.  The gale yesterday would have drowned it had it not been rescued.”

Sea lion fracture

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rmfracturenov709Yes, this was interesting… he climbed up the boat ramp (sloped concrete) then walked about 20m up more concrete to an elevation here of about 5m above sea level. This is the landing area for the derrick pictured elsewhere in the photostream. A day after this photo was taken he was there again, with the swelling reduced considerably. I have seen him a couple of times since, and the flipper is very stiff, but he seems to be able to limp to where he wants to go. Today he was 1 of 2 California sea lions left on the jetty here.

Ryan has recorded more  images on his Flickr site:

See this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.

Fisher’s discarded neck-ring on Northern Sea Lion

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rmneckringoct102009More evidence of injuries showing up on the sea lions. Ryan recorded them with images on his Flickr site:

Also see this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.

Another neck ring that will painfully kill this animal. This sea lion may be relatively lucky, the position of the ring may cause a chronic ear infection that will kill it more quickly than the typical starvation/asphyxiation deaths that neck rings can cause.rmneckscar

Sea Lion Injuries

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Ryan Murphy took these photos of some of the injured marine mammals showing up at Race Rocks this year . See more on his Fickr Site .

rmsept282009injury

I heard a very interesting interview on CBC Radio today dealing with the presence of empathy in mammals. This image would then appear to depict “pre-concern”, a concept new to me!

An article entitled “Sea lions at Victoria’s Race Rocks injured by debris, boats” just ran in Victoria’s Times Colonist that quoted me. See it here:https://www.racerocks.ca/racerock/news/debris.htm

Anna Hall, a marine zoologist also quoted in the article suggests showing graphic images to children to warn them of the dangers posed to sea lions. This series is a response to that suggestion and not biased propaganda as I have been accused of.

This image summarizes the article’s headline. Two California sea lions, one with some marine junk entangled around its neck (a death sentence), and another whose front flipper has been nearly severed by a boat’s propeller (it is currently wasting away from not being able to hunt for food).

An update from a NOAA research biologist and a veterinarian who specializes in marine mammals: Both experts agree the wound has been present for so long that the original source of the trauma is impossible to say with scientific certainty. Possible causes include orca bite, entanglement, and boat strike.
The sliced flipper has been cautiously identified as either a whale or orca attack, or a boat strike.