Sick Sea Lions Wash Up on California Beaches

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The Marine Mammal Center’s record-breaking patient load in 2014 included an influx of emaciated young sea lions. Photo by Sarah van Schagen/The Marine Mammal Center

By Lindsey Hoshaw, KQED News Fix/KQED Science

Last year, a record number of sea lions washed up on Central and Northern California beaches, according to the Marine Mammal Center, the organization that treats wounded wild marine animals.

Usually, the center near Sausalito treats fewer than 20 sea lion pups a year, but in 2014 that spiked to 245. Older sea lions also stranded themselves in record numbers last year, 449 up from 176 in 2013. A neurotoxin found in algal blooms affected 34 percent of the adults.

Read the complete story at KQED News Fix/KQED Science.

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