Georgia Aquarium Gives Non-Releasable Sea Lions A New Home

This past spring when California was experiencing an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) of sea lions along the coastline with thousands washing ashore injured, sick, starving and dying.

During this UME we saw amazing organizations working together to help rescue, rehabilitate and return the sea lions back to the wild.

Due to the sheer number of strandings, facilities like SeaWorld and the Marine Mammal Center were working overtime trying to care for hundreds of ailing sea lions. Help was needed.

The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta answered the call for help and sent some of its animal care staff to the Marine Mammal Rescue Center where they worked tirelessly to rehabilitate and return as many sea lions back into the wild as possible.

While hundreds were returned to their home waters along the California coastline, there were a number of sea lions that were deemed ‘non-releasble’ by the federal government.

Once deemed ‘non-releasable,’ the sea lions were transferred to their foster home at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo California.  At Discovery Kingdom, the amazing training team there, worked and cared for the animals, while their forever homes were being determined by the federal government.

With sea lions needing a new home, the Georgia Aquarium has stepped up and offered to give those sea lions a forever home in Atlanta.

The sea lions have now been transferred from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom to the Georgia Aquarium where they will be in quarantine for the next 30 days.  After that they will be introduced to their new habitat and will begin educating the millions of visitors of year to the Georgia Aquarium about the plight of their wild cousins.