Featured Image Credit: Vancouver Aquarium
By Emily Persico
Amid an ongoing controversy on its recent cetacean ban, Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre continues its fight to save suffering marine animals. Señor Cinco, one of their most recent acquires, is a sea lion who landed himself at the Centre after being shot twice in the face.
It was May 5th when the rescue professionals received the call: a lethargic and clearly emaciated sea lion was moping around the Spanish Banks Beach in Vancouver. He was immediately scooped off the beach and transferred to the Rescue Centre.
At the Centre, the sea lion, now called Señor Cinco, underwent a series of x-rays, revealing the tragic truth behind his dreadful state: he had been shot. Two times. In the face.
An exam by our vet team revealed Señor Cinco, the rescued California sea lion, is suffering from gunshot wounds: https://t.co/MEWhVqpPBX pic.twitter.com/hfCGLTchLT
— Vancouver Aquarium (@vanaqua) May 12, 2017
“The injuries he sustained at the hands of humans left him in pain and unable to forage on his own,” said Dr. Martin Haulena, the director of the Centre. “We’re happy we can ease his suffering, but he has a long road to recovery ahead.”
Sea lions have long suffered at the hands of humans. Although they gained certain protections with the signing of the Endangered Species Act in 1970 and the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, their populations still experience threats from poaching, entanglement in marine debris, introduced diseases from pets, and an overload of pollutants.
Animal cruelty is just one more way that humans harm marine animals like Señor Cinco, and it is just as unforgivable.
Do your part to prevent this cruelty by cleaning up trash and old fishing line and calling your local wildlife authorities if you see an animal in need.