Entangled Sea Lion Rescued at San Francisco Pier 39

The team of staff and volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center put in a fantastic effort to rescue a California sea lion that was entangled in the ocean trash.

The team set out to PIER 39 with nets, herding boards and a dart gun in hand. The team set out a dart with mild sedative into one of the two sea lion. The team noticed fishing lines around the neck of the sea lions. Once the sedative played its game, the sea lion was got to the shore and transferred into the rescue carrier.  It will be taken to a place where the debris wrapped around the neck will be removed by a veterinarian.

The Marine Mammal Center has responded to Pier 39's "K-Dock," the area where sea lions congregate on floating wooden platforms, Pier 39 spokeswoman Sue Muzzin was quoted by Mercury News.

"The sea lion had a white plastic packing band wrapped tight around his neck," Bill Van Bonn, the center's director of veterinary science was quoted in SFGate. ""If (the plastic strips) get into the water, they form this little noose," he said "The seals, especially the young ones, get curious so they just go at it. Often when they get trapped in it they are young and then they grow until it cuts things off. It can cause real problems,"

The juvenile male sea lion was named Blonde Bomber because of the light-colored sagittal crest forming on top of his head, signifying his approaching adulthood. 

The rescue of the second sea lion became more complicated after it was scared by a tour boat and disappeared into the water, Oswald was quoted in The Examiner.

It is being reported that the veterinarians will plan to remove the fishing line Wednesday as it does not appear to be endangering the sea lion. This Blonde Bomber is the 14^th animal that is being trapped by ocean trash out of the 545 animals the centre treated last year.