Featured Image Credit: NOAA’s National Ocean Service via Flickr
By Emily Persico
The Marine Mammal Center in California has been rescuing Guadalupe Fur Seals for four decades, during which they have rescued a record of five seals in a single year. Two years ago, however, everything began to change. In what NOAA is calling an “Unusual Mortality Event (UME),” 32 seals were stranded in both 2015 and 2016.
Guadalupe fur seals are Threatened. With only about 15,000 individuals remaining, these fluffy water-lovers are relatively rare and hard to track. It is up to scientists to research and save them from the mysteriously looming threat causing the Unusual Mortality Event.
So far, scientists know a couple things. Guadalupe fur seals have a similar life history to sea lions. Just like them, fur seals have their pups in June and July at their preferred nesting site on Guadalupe Island. Fur seals care for their helpless little ones for months, leaving them safely on the beach in between foraging expeditions. By spring, the pups are finally big enough to fend for themselves and go off on their own.
That is, until recently. For the past two years, many mothers have been abandoning their pups. This unfortunate happening has coincided with warmer ocean waters which have affected food availability. Unable to provide enough food for their young, many fur seals give up.
This phenomenon calls for an immediate response. Scientists at the Marine Mammal Center have partnered with Mexican scientists to track each of the seals that the Marine Mammal Center has saved. Organizations have come together from all over the United States and Mexico to fund this work, including the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the SeaWorld Stranding Support Fund.
Tags attached to rehabilitated seals allow scientists to track fur seals from their foraging grounds off the coast of California and Oregon to their nesting sites in Guadalupe. Scientists are hopeful that this collaborative effort will pay off. “The more data we have, the more effective we can be in protecting this threatened species,” explains one marine scientist at the Center. “Since these animals don’t recognize international borders, it’s vital that we all work together to better understand this threatened population and how to protect them.”
That includes you. If you see an injured animal, keep your distance and call your local wildlife authorities. Find out more about fur seals by checking out our source.