Too too wonderful to miss. Watch This Baby Sea Lion Hijack A Boat

[snagglepuss]

Such fearsome beasts, those sea lions. You’d better watch your back, because they might just cuddle with you for an hour.



http://www.buzzfeed.com/daniheckman/watch-this-baby-sea-lion-hijack-a-boat-7w57

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Is that not the sweetest thing?

[In_The_Wind]

2. Aww!

[pinto]

3. Not sooo cute, imo. The pup looks wounded and tired. Boaters w/cell phone should have called rescue

There are teams up and down the CA coast to assess and help wounded sea lions. A pup alone like that has probably lost the mother. And it looks as though it was hit on the neck and left eye.

Even weekend boaters ought to know better. Geez.

[snagglepuss]

11. I hadn't thought of that. Hopefully this video will make it into the hands of those teams and

they can use it to educate people.

[NYC_SKP]

14. Thank you, exactly. I found a weak, almost dead, pup on the beach near Monterey one morning.

And called the Marine Mammal Rescue center, referred to them by 911.

[pinto]

15. They do great work, largely with volunteer staff.

[NYC_SKP]

18. I expected someone from the aquarium two blocks or so away to come, but they sent a team...

...from much further north, or so I was led to believe.

I wanted to stay with the pup, but had a school visit to complete and when I came back the it was gone.

It wasn't clear from impressions in the sand if it had gotten better or been removed.

They explained over the phone initially that pups sometimes get separated from mom and get tired and will come up on the beach to rest, so it could have gotten better and gone back.

From my phone:

[pinto]

19. My friend works here in SLO. Serious wounds, life threatening stuff, or infection issues

are transported up to Monterey, Santa Cruz or SF as needed. SF, iirc, tracks infection tends for the whole coast. The other sites treat injuries as best they can.

[tblue37]

31. Since the pup in the video slept on the man's lap for an hour and then left,

and since an adult sea lion was swimming nearby when the pup left, maybe he really was just tired and needing a rest before doing any more swimming. The other sea lions were only about 2 miles away at the time, the guy said.

[cbayer]

25. Agree and there are strict rules about touching them (you can't).

We had one climb into our dinghy this winter. It was not sick and not separated from it's mother, but the other sea lions wouldn't let it on the buoy they were using for sunning and it was cold.

The mother actually came out to try and retrieve it, and he wouldn't go with her. My husband ended up taking it back out to the buoy and had to make it get out.

We called the local agency and they said to just take it back where it belonged, lol.

[tblue37]

30. In the comments it was explained that there was an adult

sea lion swimming nearby when the pup left, and that the incident occurred only about 2 miles from the area where other sea lions hung out. My guess is the little guy was just curious, and also that he found the hair on the man's legs interesting to rub against. The man said he slept on his lap for an hour, and when the man stood up, the pup just left the same way he came in.

[grantcart]

4. Interesting

Recently read an article that put forth that it wasn't man that domesticated wolves into dogs, but that it was an evolutionary move by particular wolves who figured out that if they followed humans that they would get the benefit of a stable food source from left over food scraps. Natural selection took over and the most 'human' friendly' evolved until they were taken in by humans. Very similar to the behavior in this clip.

[DreamGypsy]

5. Spoiler alert. Could the sea lion pup be sick or starving?

I tried to find information about normal wild sea lion pup/human interaction because the behavior in the video suggest to me that the pup might be sick or have become separated from its mother and was seeking a surrogate. I didn't find anything relevant yet, although this[link:http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/california-sea-lion/birth-&-care.htm| SeaWorld site has a good summary of gestation, birth, care, feeding, and growth of pups.

However, I did find several articles like this one Starving sea lion pups fill Calif. rescue centers from mid-April:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Starving sea lion pups are washing up on Southern California beaches at a rate more than five times higher than usual, and scientists are scrambling to figure out why.

Since the beginning of the year, 1,293 emaciated sea lions found stranded on beaches from San Diego to Santa Barbara have been treated at seven facilities in the state, Sarah Wilkin of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters.

The number is a record for strandings of live California sea lions along the Southern California coast from Jan. 1-April 30 since 1982, when formal record-keeping began. The low was 25 sea lions in 2000. The previous high was 659 in 1998, when the Pacific experienced a strong ocean-altering El Nino.

Last month, the agency declared an "unusual mortality event" that allowed more scientists to help search for the cause.

A leading hypothesis is lack of available food. Researchers were also doing tests to see if pollution, disease outbreak or algae bloom are to blame.

That's the bad news. The better news is from mid-May Sea Lion Pup-date Brings Good News: Strandings Are Declining:

The tide of starving sea lion pups washing ashore in Southern California has ebbed, giving rescue centers a break from the flood of animals that began arriving in January.

“The overwhelming nature of the strandings, at least down here in our neck of the woods, has subsided,” said David Koontz, director of communications for SeaWorld, in San Diego.

<snip>

In the last few weeks, SeaWorld has been rescuing between one and three animals per day, compared to about a dozen per day during the height of the stranding event, Koontz said. They still have more than 100 animals in-house, but have been able to rehabilitate and release many of them to the ocean. “When they’re returned, their weight is, for the most part, doubled,” Koontz said. “And they’ve shown our animal care team that they have the ability to forage for themselves.”

SeaWorld releases pups offshore, between 10 and 15 miles out, in areas where it’s likely the fish are plentiful. The boat taking the pups home is equipped with carriers and a sliding door on the side so the pups can head straight for the ocean. “Some like to get out there right away,” Koontz said. “Others, it takes a little coaxing.”

Rescue centers farther north, in Orange and Los Angeles Counties, are also seeing decreasing stranding numbers.

SeaWorld releases rehabilitated sea lion pups.
Photo: Mike Aguilera/SeaWorld San Diego

[snagglepuss]

9. Yikes. I didn't even think of that but you're right to question what is really going on.

[mopinko]

17. first thing i thought.

seen lots of "tame" found birds that we either sick or starving.

[malaise]

6. I love how Miss Hi Baby turned into

Why did he come of the freaking boat

[Iliyah]

7. Awwwwwwwwww

cutest, thanks needed that! As to sea lions dying, yes there is a problem but hopefully the state will get on it quickly.

[L0oniX]

8. Cute but there is something wrong with this pup.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

10. I would be worried about where the Mom was.

[azurnoir]

12. +1 thank you

also did you notice he appeared to have a wound on the back of his(?) head

[Lady Freedom Returns]

16. Yes, I did.

Makes me also wonder if mom was trying to lead something off. The baby, being scared and a little loss, just went to the ship for the feeling of safety or was looking for her.

[tblue37]

32. I thought so at first, too, but later in the video it is

obvious that it was just bristly hair that looked that way when it was still wet.

[NYC_SKP]

13. Sorry to say, this was wrong and it was quite possibly illegal. I note they deleted the part about:

:how the critter came aboard.

I heard a woman say "it looks tired", like she's a fucking expert on these things.

I suspect they "helped" it climb aboard but chose not to show that part, hmmmm.

Any good naturalist and any truly caring human knows that you do not molest (this includes play with, stroke, touch, etc.) wildlife.

Cute?

Sure. But very stupid and selfish and wrong.

[lumberjack_jeff]

22. The sailboat has no transom.

I don't doubt the animal crawled aboard of his own volition.

I am sure it was abandoned; sick, tired and hungry. Hopefully they called a sea lion rescue organization to get advice.

[NYC_SKP]

27. It is ILLEGAL to to approach or handle a sick or injured marine mammal.

http://research.calacademy.org/om/mmsn

I hope they called for help too, even though they broke the law.

The cute video smacks of so much people do with other organisms and call it "cute" or "cool" without really understanding the impact of it all.

Swimming with dolphins, for example.

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. I don't really disagree with you

but I think many of us would be tempted to break that law given that the sea lion's highest and best use at that point he boarded he boat was shark chow.

[tofuandbeer]

20. Love it!

I posted it on FB.

[rocktivity]

21. Recently weaned and misses cuddling with mama?

rocktivity

[life long demo]

23. That was so cute, but like others, my first thought was

where was it's mother. Is this pup too young to survive alone?

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

24. They are the dogs of the ocean

playful and pranksters. I have been free diving for 65 years now, they buzz you underwater, missing you by inches before turning away, I think they enjoy startling persons that way, playing tag so to speak.
That young pup didn't seem overly distressed, probably just wanted to use the boat to haul out, rest and get warm for a bit, but is was unusual to see that level of trust.

[indepat]

26. Something awesome surely abounds in all of nature's creatures

[NYC_SKP]

28. >*>ILLEGAL!<*<

Illegal for good reason.

All marine mammals are protected by federal law, even after death, and it is important to collect all scientific information from these animals better to understand the health of marine mammal populations. The Department of Ornithology & Mammalogy is a participant in the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, a federal research program run by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Our field biologists respond to calls reporting dead marine mammals, and when carcasses are located, they make examinations, collect information, and take samples to determine identifications and cause of death. If marine mammals, whether sick, injured, or dead, are encountered in the wild, please try to collect the following information:

1) Get a description of the animal. Estimate the size, color, and other distinguishing features. Is it a seal, sea lion, dolphin, whale or otter? Is it injured, decomposed, or missing parts?
2) Get a locale as specific as possible. Get the name of the beach, the distance from the nearest parking lot, road or trail.
3) Record the date and time you last saw the animal. Also, please leave your name and phone number in case you need to be contacted to provide further information.
4) Please note any other information that may be valuable in finding the animal, or that may have contributed to the injury or death of the animal.

Please remember: It is illegal to approach or handle a sick or injured marine mammal, and it is illegal to collect any parts of dead marine mammals.

http://research.calacademy.org/om/mmsn

Sorry to shit on this OP but cuteness shouldn't guide what people do to other animals.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

33. that poor baby. I hope everything turned out OK. Wish I knew the rest of the story.