Wildlife Center Receives Funding for Seal Rehab Project

The California Wildlife Center received an $18,000 check from Environmental California Thursday to help with the rehabilitation of three elephant seals that were rescued along the Southern California coast.

"It was Environmental California that contacted us to say 'how can we help,'" said Victoria Harris, president of the board of directors for the center.

Though the center takes in all kinds of injured and abandoned wildlife, this is the first time they are sheltering marine mammals. They needed additional funding for food and enclosures.

Nathan Weaver, oceans advocate for Environmental California, said that the group was responding to a crisis.

"We are seeing unprecedented levels of stranding of sea lion pups," he said.

Over 1,300 sea lions have been stranded between January and April of this year, Weaver said.

The environmental advocacy organization reached out to their supporters for fundraising.

"We have to thank so many of our supporters for their generosity," said Weaver.

The four to five-month-old pups currently housed at the center were taken from the Marine Mammal Care Center At Fort MacArthur in San Pedro to help ease their overload of rescued sea lions.

"Right now they're in a state of emergency," said Michael Remski, who came to Calabasas from San Pedro to help with the project. "Taking these larger mammals off their work load is a huge relief for them."

Over the next four months, Remski and a host of volunteers will work with the pups, who each experienced failure to thrive, to help them learn to feed and basically take care of themselves in the wild, Remski said.

Some seals, once separated from their mothers, don't know how to catch and eat fish, which leads to stranding and starvation, said Remski.

"We will teach them how to eat fish. Once they show that ability, we will release them back into the wild," Remski said.

CWC is seeking public assistance to achieve its goals during this crisis. Opportunities to help include:

• Register for California Wildlife Center's 5th Annual Run on the Wild Side - Sunday, May 5, at Zuma Beach. Individual and team sign-ups are available. Visitwww.regonline.com/runonthewildside to register today!
• Donate items from California Wildlife Center's Wishlist on Amazon.com
• General Donations are always accepted at www.cawildlife.org.

For more information on the California Wildlife Center, go to their website.