Marine biologists on the West Coast are struggling to understand the reason why an alarming number of sea lion pups are turning up near death along Southern California's coastline.
Some 1,400 young California sea lions were admitted to rehabilitation centers throughout the state since the beginning of the year, Sarah Wilkin of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told Fox News.
That number is five times the normal rate of beached pups that typically appear between January and April, Wilkin said.
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Sea lion mystery: Marine biologists on the West Coast are struggling to understand the reason why an alarming number of sea lion pups are turning up near death along Southern California's coastline
Rising number: Some 1,400 young California sea lions were admitted to rehabilitation centers throughout the state since the beginning of the year
‘Nobody was quite prepared for the scope of this,’ she told Fox News. ‘The major common factor for all these stranded pups is that they're coming in emaciated, dehydrated, basically starving. They have been unable to find enough food to sustain themselves.’
Wilkin and other marine biologists have yet to figure out why the pups are not getting enough of the fish they need for both nutrition and hydration is still unclear.
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What is known is that the epidemic only affects the young as most of the sick sea lions arriving on the shore were born last summer.
‘The pups can't dive as deep,’ said Wilkin. ‘They can't travel as far so they might be more impacted in even just a slight change in the distribution of prey.’
Hundreds of sick sea lions wash up on California coast
'Unusual mortality event': NOAA has labeled the bizarre and upsetting phenomena an 'unusual mortality event' with hopes that the organization will receive additional funding for rehabilitation and research
Unprecedented: David Bard with the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro said his facility usually receives between 50 and 80 animals in the first quarter of the year, while in 2013 it has treated more than 400 already
NOAA has labeled the bizarre and upsetting phenomena an ‘unusual mortality event’ with hopes that the organization will receive additional funding for rehabilitation and research.
‘The numbers speak for themselves,’ David Bard with the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro told Fox News. ‘As far as the underlying causes, anything that I can tell you would be a guess.’
Bard said his facility usually receives between 50 and 80 animals in the first quarter of the year, while in 2013 it has treated more than 400 already.
‘What we started seeing since January is animals coming in at roughly half the weight that they should be,’ said Bard. ‘You can see their shoulder blades, you can see their spines.’
Wilkin says the NOAA is working with fishery scientists and oceanographers to pinpoint the exact cause, including possible food shortages, exposure to biotoxins, disease and human pollutants.
They are also considering the possibility of radiation contamination from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown following the 2011 tsunami.
However, Wilkin said that despite the cause, the rising number of beached sea lion pups could be an indication of something more troubling in the waters off the coast of California.
Possible causes: The NOAA is working with fishery scientists and oceanographers to pinpoint the exact cause, including possible food shortages, exposure to biotoxins, disease and human pollutants