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.

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center is again seeing an influx of malnourished sea lion pups at its Laguna Canyon facility, center officials announced in a news release. As of Wednesday, the facility had 100 sea lions in captivity, close to capacity. Last year saw a record number of sea lions at more than 370, the release said. "The sea lion pups we are seeing are exhibiting very similar conditions to last year," Executive Director Keith Matassa said in the release. "Many pups are malnourished and dehydrated with low body weight.

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.

CHERRIL DOTY "So, it comes first: the world. Then, literature. And then, what one pencil moving over a thousand miles of paper can (perhaps, sometimes) do." -- MARY OLIVER, Blue Pastures "What can I do to help?" Many of us want to do what we can to make the world a better place to live. We just don't know what to do, or we become overwhelmed by the size of the task. Knowledge is definitely the key. My hope in writing this is that I can prod each of you down the path of that knowledge, that we may all put the world first.

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center is again seeing an influx of malnourished sea lion pups at its Laguna Canyon facility, center officials announced in a news release. As of Wednesday, the facility had 100 sea lions in captivity, close to capacity. Last year saw a record number of sea lions at more than 370, the release said. "The sea lion pups we are seeing are exhibiting very similar conditions to last year," Executive Director Keith Matassa said in the release. "Many pups are malnourished and dehydrated with low body weight.

Whizzing drills and pounding hammers have mostly replaced yelping sea lions these days at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. Staff and volunteers who help rehabilitate sick and injured pinnipeds were caring for only three sea lions the first week of the new year, a far cry from the hundreds in the first half of 2013. The Laguna Canyon Road center is embarking on an expansion that will add a new intensive care unit, public restroom, multipurpose room and an observation deck. Crews have been putting down roofing shingles, painting outdoor trim and preparing to install drywall.

Last month, former Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords, her husband Mark Kelly and his daughter were vacationing in Laguna Beach when Kelly's daughter's dog escaped from its owner and attacked and killed a young California sea lion pup, devastating Kelly's daughter and many beach goers who witnessed the tragic event. My first thought was "Why was the dog so close?" Then I thought, "Are there really that many sick sea lions that they are willing to risk coming in contact with humans just to get some needed rest?"

A trend of sea lion pups becoming malnourished along the Orange County coast has led to an uptick in the number of animals admitted to a local marine mammal center, according to experts. As of Monday, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center on Laguna Canyon Road is caring for 38 sea lions, up from six in January 2012, said Melissa Sciacca, the center's director of development. Ten of those 38 animals were delivered from another marine life center. All of the sea lions are pups between six to seven months old that are trying to wean from their mothers, Sciacca said.

Only in Laguna do carolers compete with the sounds of the waves, children sit on Santa's lap as the sun sets over the Pacific and holiday-goers need nothing more than a light sweater in the snow. Montage Laguna Beach celebrated its third annual Holiday Tree Lighting and Community Open House on Monday evening with live music, warm drinks and, of course, a visit from Santa. "I thought it was beautiful - a California Christmas," said Laura Orlich, of Tucson, who was visiting family.

Forty years ago, John Cunningham and Jim Stauffer opened Friends of the Sea Lion for a simple reason: They were running out of space. Stauffer and Cunningham, both Laguna Beach lifeguards at the time, were rescuing sea lions and putting them in Stauffer's backyard. They built a pool, fed the mammals and nursed them back to health. Decades later, Friends of the Sea Lion, which is now called the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, is the main marine rescue facility in Orange County.

Game show veteran Bob Barker came to the Pacific Mammal Center on Wednesday to celebrate the official reopening of its visitor's center and release a seal — aptly named Barker — back into the wild. "I must confess that the most exciting thing is Barker," he told the crowd, referring to his namesake seal. "I was astounded at the family resemblance. I have relatives that look a great deal like her. " The price couldn't have been more right when Barker donated $250,000 to the Pacific Mammal Center earlier this year, allowing the center to reopen its doors after the December floods ravaged it. The center is the only rescue center in Orange County for marine mammals.

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach last week rescued an elephant seal pup in Seal Beach, which SeaWorld had rehabilitated. Melissa Sciacca, director of development and marketing at the center, said the incident wasn't cause for concern. The seal, named Safari, was found weighing 92 pounds at 5 months old, and was described as lethargic, with feathers in his mouth. The center is investigating what caused Safari to become stranded. A tag designated the pup as coming from SeaWorld San Diego, according to Sciacca.

Laguna local Arno Chauvel has lost his battle with bone cancer. His friend, Joe Ferguson, set up a blog for Chauvel in March, when he was first admitted to the hospital. Since then, memories and photographs have flooded the site, revealing a man with a passion for life and travel, and a happy marriage with Suzi Chauvel. He died April 19 at age 60. Arno Chauvel was born Oct. 8, 1950, in Tulare, Calif. He met his wife while at the University of the Pacific, where he received a doctorate in pharmacology, according to his sister-in-law.

Former TV game show host and animal rights activist Bob Barker has pledged a $250,000 donation to help the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach recover from a devastating Dec. 22 flood. Barker is the former host of "The Price is Right," and has contributed to anti-whaling efforts and other animal advocacy groups. The center was inundated early on Dec. 22 when Laguna Creek overflowed during an intense downpour following six days of precipitation. Three marine mammals — a sea lion and two elephant seals — were rescued after waters in the barn in which they were placed rose to about four feet in depth.