“
One hundred and 10
percent, the goal of
the program is to give
animals that second
chance—return them
back to the wild. That’s
the best day for us. ...
That’s what we’ve been
working toward.
Top: SeaWorld staff clean a sea lion (left) and
work with an injured dolphin (right). Bottom
left: SeaWorld created flotation devices for a
dolphin that couldn’t swim on its own.
—JODY WESTBERG
approached him. They were finally able to
corral him when the animal went ashore on
a Point Loma beach. After removal of the
gaff from his hip and treatment for a mild
infection, Oscar was released after only two
weeks at SeaWorld.
“We got an anonymous call on our rescue
hotline from a fisherman who said he was
on the boat when the animal got gaffed
and it was an accident,” Westberg explains.
“They were all very happy to see the animal
was getting the help it needed. That was
really a cool call. He’s what we call a resi-
dent animal. The locals named him Oscar,
so the community down there was really
invested in getting this animal rescued.”
In 2016, a memorable rescue involved
an emaciated young sea lion that was dis-
covered sleeping in a booth at The Marine
SEAWORLD’S BEHIND-THE-SCENES TOUR
The best way to get a close-up look at SeaWorld San Diego’s animal rescue
and rehabilitation efforts is by signing up for a Behind-the-Scenes Tour. During
the one-hour meander through the park’s backstage areas, guides provide
interesting facts about SeaWorld and its wildlife. Private tours, which cost
$500 for groups of 20 people or fewer, may include a visit to Turtle Beach to
feed endangered sea turtles, the Humboldt penguin habitat or other areas,
while public tours stop at the Aquarium Lab and Animal Rescue Center; the
latter is sometimes included in private tours based on timing and group size,
but not guaranteed. The cost of the public tour starts at $20 per person; of
that price, $2 benefits the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.
22
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES
Also in 2016, over on the other coast,
SeaWorld Orlando rehabilitated a mother
manatee and her calf that had been res-
cued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission. The mother
was struggling with severe buoyancy issues
believed to be caused by a watercraft strike.
Devising a unique solution to an unusual
problem, the Orlando team created a
super-sized “wet suit” to wrap around the
mother manatee, stabilizing her buoyancy
issue before veterinarians successfully
released air that had become trapped in her
chest cavity.
SAN
many things about gray whales such as their
vocalization patterns and growth rates. Staff
also developed tools and techniques to care
for such a large animal. “One of the great-
est innovations was the creation of marine
mammal infant formula, which has allowed
us to care for other rescued newborns over
the years,” Westberg says.
Another high-profile operation was the
rescue of Oscar, a California sea lion who
frequented the G Street Pier on San Diego
Bay. “We got a call from someone that said
there was an animal with a ‘bat’ stuck in its
body,” Westberg recalls. “We figured it must
be kelp wrapped around the animal’s body,
but it was actually a fishing gaff.”
Being a sly sort of sea lion, Oscar eluded
capture for nearly a week by slipping back
into the bay whenever the rescue team
Room, a waterfront restaurant in La Jolla.
The sea lion pup, named Marina, was
nursed back to health and soon returned
back to the ocean. In 2015, SeaWorld
rescued a record number of sea lions, like
Marina, due to a phenomenon most likely
caused by warming ocean waters that force
marine mammals to swim farther and
deeper to find food, researchers say.
There have also been an unusually high
number of whale entanglements off the
Southern California coast over the past few
years, including a juvenile humpback whale
that SeaWorld’s team rescued 3 miles from
the La Jolla shore in February 2016. This
rescue effort—which entailed removing
fishing line from the whale’s mouth and
fluke area—took around two hours by three
rescue team members in a small rubber boat.