Wrastle and Release

On Monday two of our CIMWI patients were released back into the wild at a Hollister Ranch Beach just a few miles North of our facility. Both animals were found displaced, underweight, lethargic, and with large festering abscesses. Number 10 was found in the ladies restroom at a beach park in Ventura with a large abscess on his right cheek. I actually had the opportunity to get hands-on involvement in treating his wound when he came in two weeks ago. With guidance from the head vet and an experienced volunteer restrainer I treated the wound and administered fluids as well as all his injections. The very next day he was practically a new sea lion. Now with his wound nearly healed and his weight back up it was time to send him home. Before we send any of our patients "home" we must tag their flippers with a plastic ID number. There are a view reasons to do this. Some of our patients despite our best effort become too comfortable with people and can get themselves into trouble soon after being released. Keeping track of "repeat offenders" can tell us if perhaps a new home at a zoo would be safer for the animal. So far my understanding is that this is rare occurrence. After tagging our patients we loaded them into crates and took them to the beach. When the cage doors swung open they slowly crawled out and took in the scene. It took a few minutes(and a little encouragement) but eventually they figured out that they were free and lazily made their way to the water. Good luck 10 and 11! Number six that I mentioned in a previous blog was released on Tuesday having made a complete recovery. Saving sea lions, that's what CIMWI does!





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