Marine Mammals

EYE ON ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Every week I get quite a few calls from local artists or people drop by the Coastline Pilot office and suggest that I do a story on them. Believe me it's hard to decide what we are going to run each week. There are so many amazing artists, accomplishments, gallery openings, artist receptions and events that it would be nice to write stories about everything. But we can't or it would be one big happenings section with no room for other news like City Council meetings or the Laguna Canyon Conservancy's next meeting.

The Marine Mammal Center on Laguna Canyon Road has rescued and cared for 166 seals and sea lions so far this year. It takes money, and a chunk of it was raised at the third annual Marine Mammal Masquerade on Sunday at Mozambique restaurant. An estimated $67,000 raised at the masquerade will help provide medical care for marine mammals like Skippy , a Pacific Harbor Seal, rescued May 8, weighing 21 pounds and released back into the ocean Sept. 25, weighing 77 pounds — or Moonbeam , a Northern elephant seal that weighed 58 pounds when rescued March 19 and 261 pounds when released Sept.

Marine mammal experts may have realized why a large number of seals and sea lions are coming ashore weak and malnourished. The mammals are having a hard time catching fish due to a slight increase in the temperature of the ocean, said Dr. Richard Evans, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center veterinarian and medical director. Experts are predicting an El Niño/La Niña weather pattern will begin to arrive through August, with higher global ocean temperatures already evident, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

El Morro Village will host its second annual "Great Day at the Beach" for children with special needs. More than 30 children from 6 to 12 are scheduled to participate in the event on June 25. Participating groups include Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children of Santa Ana. Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center will co-host the event. The children will explore tide pools and learn about sea lions, seals and other marine mammals.

Lauren Vane Tommy the sea lion likes to show off when visitors come to see him. He splashes around, in and out of his small pool, and presses his face against the fence of his pen at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. Tommy arrived at the center when he was abandoned shortly after he was born -- about seven months ago. Since then, Tommy has been living at the center, where he has been hand-reared and nursed by staff and volunteers.

Pacific Marine Mammal Center has received a bequest of $267,123 from the JoHannah Sisson Charitable Trust. Dixie Jordan, Trustee, along with Lee Leary, Pat Griggs, and Sue Brown, all longtime friends of JoHannah, visited the center recently to present their friend's gift. Sisson was a resident of Laguna Beach for 47 years and spent 30 years as a teacher and counselor in the Santa Ana Unified School District. During her lifetime she was active as both volunteer and donor with the Center (then Friends of the Sea Lion)

Auction 100 is Saturday at museum Laguna Art Museum?s Auction 100 features 100 works of art from 100 premier California artists in a live and silent auction from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Art may be previewed from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through today at the museum or at www.lagunaartmuseum.org . Any works unsold will be available for sale in a post-auction Sunday. Auction 100 is a fundraiser benefiting the education and exhibition programs at Laguna Art Museum.

SchoolPower raises more than $300,000 SchoolPower's April 28 annual dinner dance and auction at the Montage Resort & Spa raised more than $300,000 for Laguna public schools. The non-profit organization raises funds for the Laguna Beach Unified School District, which are then distributed based on the recommendations of principals, teachers and the superintendent. It was the first public education foundation in Orange County when it was established in 1981. The Hearts of Montage charitable group, comprised of Montage employees, provided a $45,000 donation to the organization.

For the past 19 years, Michele Hunter has been Orange County’s unofficial pinniped matriarch. As the director of operations/animal care for Laguna Beach’s Pacific Marine Mammal Center, Hunter oversees the rescue and rehabilitation of dozens of distressed seals and sea lions each year. Under Hunter’s direction, about 70 animal care volunteers and 10 education volunteers retrieve sick and injured aquatic mammals along a 42-mile strip of coastline that runs from the shores of Seal Beach to the cliffs of San Onofre.

Free trolley parking at Boat Canyon Free parking for trolley customers will be offered Aug. 21 to 29 at the rear of the Pavilions Shopping Center at 600 N. Coast Hwy. at Boat Canyon, City Manager Ken Frank announced. Approximately 50 free parking spaces will be available daily from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The parking lot will be staffed during operating hours by a city attendant. Temporary signage southbound along Coast Highway will direct drivers to the free parking. For more information, contact the Community Services Department at (949)

I don't know about you, but for myself it feels like we are at a critical moment of life on this planet. It seems the world is on fire and so are our hearts inflamed with sadness, anger, disgust — all states that reflect the ongoing destruction in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill could not have come at a worse time for the Gulf's sea life, wildlife and bird species. Late spring is the peak time for neo-tropical songbirds moving from the Yucatan Peninsula to Louisiana. As many as 25 million a day arrive during the northern migration.

Regarding ?Chamber wants more liquor sales,? March 26. I was so disturbed that my hands are shaking with shock over the possible acceptance of this casual proposal to have more alcohol in our community. Here we are trying to convey to kids that drugs and alcohol will steer you into a downward spiral, and yet our chamber wants to have more sales to boost our economy. What is more important: the future of our society or sales? How can we continue to support positive decisions for our children when our leaders want to push the tide against them?

Local filmmakers at Newport festival Laguna native and film director Nathan Apffel will having a screening of his film, ?Lost Prophets ? Search for the Collective,? at 2:25 p.m. Wednesday at the Newport Beach Film Festival. The film, which premiered in Laguna last year, explores the lives of eight surfers ? including locals Kolohe Andino, Hans Hagen and Mike Parsons. Narrated by Tom Morey, inventor of the boogie board, the documentary takes viewers on a global adventure as their stories unfold while riding some of the best waves documented in the past decade.

Dehydrated and starving sea lions pups are washing up along the Orange County coast, according to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. The center has taken in 27 pups, most between 6 and 7 months old, for rehydration and nourishment since mid-December. Eleven of the pups survived, and nine are in critical condition. According to Kirsten Sedlick, an animal care supervisor and educational coordinator for the center, many of the young sea lions they are treating are in stage three of starvation.