{"id":767684,"date":"2026-09-11T21:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T21:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/767684\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T21:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T21:40:12","slug":"more-sea-lions-falling-ill-in-california-in-bad-sign-of-whats-to-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/767684\/","title":{"rendered":"More sea lions falling ill in California in bad sign of what\u2019s to come"},"content":{"rendered":"

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More than double the typical number of sick sea lions<\/a> have washed ashore in California<\/a> this year, stretching rescue teams to their limits as a toxic algae outbreak spreads along the West Coast.<\/p>\n

At the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, workers have taken in more than 150 sea lions suffering from domoic acid poisoning<\/a> since the start of the year. The naturally-occurring neurotoxin stems from harmful algal blooms, multiplying through the marine food chain as forage fish eat the algae and are then consumed by larger predators.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can cause lesions on the brain,\u201d Giancarlo Rulli, who has worked at the Marine Mammal Center for 22 years, told CBS San Francisco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Animals exposed to the poison experience lethargy, muscle twitching and severe seizures. Earlier this week, a sea lion found at Crissy Field in San Francisco died from exposure after rescuers observed the animal weaving and bobbing its head.<\/p>\n

State agencies monitor animal strandings to help identify active algae blooms off the coast. Testing on local seafood continues year-round, with public health authorities increasing sample collection whenever risk factors rise. Officials warn that eating contaminated catches can cause severe illness or death in humans, urging people to check active fishery closures and safety advisories before eating local seafood.<\/p>\n

\"AA massive surge in toxic algae off the West Coast has left a record number of sea lions stranded on California beaches, overwhelming coastal marine mammal hospitals (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Environmental scientists say climate conditions are driving the intensity of the current bloom. Dan Costa, a distinguished professor of ecology at UC Santa Cruz, studies sea lion movements to understand how ocean changes alter wildlife patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the El Ni\u00f1o you have warming, which probably helps the harmful bloom,\u201d Costa said. \u201cAnd then that domoic acid gets released, fish eat it, and then it biomagnifies in the fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costa noted that warmer ocean temperatures are pushing sea lions farther north in search of food. \u201cThe conditions are more favorable up here for fish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That shift leaves nursing pups vulnerable in traditional breeding grounds farther south. \u201cYou\u2019ve got these poor little pups sitting on the beach starving to death,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n

\"RescuingRescuing adult sea lions weighing more than 300 pounds requires teams of up to six people, creating an exceptionally strenuous physical workload for responders (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Costa added that the crisis points to systemic issues beyond wildlife health. \u201cThe best thing we can do is to reduce human activities that put pollutants in the water,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n

The influx of distressed animals has created significant operational strain at treatment facilities. At the Sausalito call center, staff member Justin Hodges said daily report volumes had jumped sharply compared to last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was about 60 to 100 calls a day and now we\u2019re looking at 300 to 600 calls per day,\u201d Hodges said.<\/p>\n

Rescuing a single adult animal often requires four to six people to safely transport the sea lion because they can weigh upwards of 300 pounds. It forces staff to triage incoming calls based on location, severity and available resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely labor intensive and physical,\u201d Rulli said.<\/p>\n

\"AfterAfter clearing intensive treatments to flush the neurotoxin from their systems, three recovered sea lions were released back into the wild on Thursday (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Veterinary teams treat patients using anti-seizure medication and fluids to help flush the toxin, though many animals arrive too ill to survive.<\/p>\n

Despite the strain, rescue operations continued Thursday as teams returned three rehabilitated sea lions back to the wild.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work can be challenging yet incredibly rewarding,\u201d Hodges said.<\/p>\n

For responders, the broader trend remains a critical indicator of shifting ocean health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re telling a story,\u201d Rulli said. “We\u2019re in the midst of a severe outbreak of domoic acid poisoning. And how, in turn, that can also have implications for us as humans as well.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-767684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}