serafina20 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
serafina20) wrote2009-07-06 11:33 am
serafina20) wrote2009-07-06 11:33 am
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Pictures of the sea lions
So, I didn't get a picture of me wrassling a sea lion to be fed (and I was adorable in my red slickers and gloves), but I got pictures of the kids.
This is Odiebelle. S/he was lying on the beach, near a watermelon and some kids. We picked her up.
And put her in a pet carrier. She was easy to pen.
This is Brickwalls. She was something like 60kgs. She was already there when I arrived.
At one point, we were afraid she was dead by sea lions suicide, 'cause we walked past her pen and she was completely submerged. Luckily, she was just soaking.
The little one behind the one in front is Sprocket. He was 11.3 kgs. The supervisor thought it'd be easy for me to practice wrangling him. I got him in the towel (although I have to work on it) but he fought and fought and fought me. He also didn't want to eat.
This is what they look like while they're being fed. When they first come in, most of them are emaciated from not eating. We ease them back by giving them electrolites, then fishmash (ground up fish) through a tube. The tube goes into their stomach, then the stuff is squeezed in via a huge syringe. It's usually quite difficult, as they bited and snap at the tube. But it's what they need.
Eventually, they do get fish. We throw frozen fish into their pools when they're distracted so they don't associate people with fish. I didn't get a picture of that this week.
When the sea lions are really, really big (like, over 60 kgs) they come in this:
We had one yesterday. THis one had a huge abscess on its chest. I didn't get a great picture:
We had to slide him out on a ramp. It took all six of us, so no picture. He didn't get fed, but they gave him an IV.
(MF lens flare, yo)
Anyway, ten of the little ones were packed up and sent to the big hospital. These two were adorable:
And that's all. Maybe more pictures next week.
This is Odiebelle. S/he was lying on the beach, near a watermelon and some kids. We picked her up.
And put her in a pet carrier. She was easy to pen.
This is Brickwalls. She was something like 60kgs. She was already there when I arrived.
At one point, we were afraid she was dead by sea lions suicide, 'cause we walked past her pen and she was completely submerged. Luckily, she was just soaking.
The little one behind the one in front is Sprocket. He was 11.3 kgs. The supervisor thought it'd be easy for me to practice wrangling him. I got him in the towel (although I have to work on it) but he fought and fought and fought me. He also didn't want to eat.
This is what they look like while they're being fed. When they first come in, most of them are emaciated from not eating. We ease them back by giving them electrolites, then fishmash (ground up fish) through a tube. The tube goes into their stomach, then the stuff is squeezed in via a huge syringe. It's usually quite difficult, as they bited and snap at the tube. But it's what they need.
Eventually, they do get fish. We throw frozen fish into their pools when they're distracted so they don't associate people with fish. I didn't get a picture of that this week.
When the sea lions are really, really big (like, over 60 kgs) they come in this:
We had one yesterday. THis one had a huge abscess on its chest. I didn't get a great picture:
We had to slide him out on a ramp. It took all six of us, so no picture. He didn't get fed, but they gave him an IV.
(MF lens flare, yo)
Anyway, ten of the little ones were packed up and sent to the big hospital. These two were adorable:
And that's all. Maybe more pictures next week.