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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2017)
6 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2017 Sea lions from 1A “We’re certainly not seeing the numbers of animals in Lane County that we’re seeing in Lincoln and Tillamook coun- ties. I think it has to do with where a lot of these animals happen to be congregating,” Rice said. One of the main reasons for this, Rice believed, was the fact that Sea Lion Caves hous- es Stellar sea lions that are native to the region, whereas most of the diseases are occur- ring in migratory California sea lions. “They generally stay apart from each other,” Rice said. “The Sea Lion Caves are vast- ly Stellar sea lions. Occasionally you’ll get a few California sea lions that haul out in that same general area, but by and large, the animals at Sea Lion Caves are Stellar sea lions.” Where the animals haul out (congregate on dry land) is where the disease is primarily being spread. Transmission comes from bodily fluids, most notably urine. “When they rest on shore, they rest on top of each other and they can expose each other to their body fluids that way,” Rice said. Since the different breeds of sea lions rarely interact, the risk of transmission is lower. This phenomenon was also seen during the last outbreak of the disease in 2010. “I don’t remember seeing any sick animals then,” McMillan said. “It was on the coast, but we didn’t see it here.” Leptospirosis is a bacterium that can lead to kidney failure, fever, weakness, and muscle pain in sea lions. The symp- toms of the disease, which typ- ically affects young male sea lions, include signs of dehydra- tion, depression and reluctance to use their hind flippers. Rice has been working with scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles to discover the connections between the sea lions and the disease, but there’s still a lot that is not understood. Rice said, “I honestly don’t know why there’s a large gap in outbreaks. There’s still a number of unanswered ques- tions. We don’t know why spe- cific outbreaks occur.” Rice was also unsure why California sea lions are particu- larly vulnerable to the disease. “It’s an organism that’s been in their population since 1970, from what we know. There have been animals in that pop- ulation that have been carrying the disease and spreading it for decades. Within other species, it affects animals sporadically, but not to the extent of California sea lions,” he said. Exact numbers on how many sea lions are being affected by this outbreak are unknown. “I can only guess at this point in time, I don’t have accurate numbers because they come up every day and I’m just responding as they come up,” Rice said. “I would say there have been scores of fatalities so far. Beyond that, I really can’t be precise.” For the sea lions that are sick, there’s little that Rice can do at this point. “We don’t have the resources for rehabilitation,” he said. “It’s extremely expen- sive and it depends on private groups to generate those resources. They don’t come from the state. Many people in Oregon think there are too many sea lions already and they would not want to see public money going into that sort of endeavor.” What the public has been concerned about is transmis- sion from the sea lions to other species, such as dogs, who are particularly vulnerable to the disease. Rice said that the public shouldn’t panic and should continue going to the beach. “I don’t want people to over- react,” he said. “During the last outbreak, we had people call- ing in being fearful of going on the beach, and there’s no rea- son to take things to that extreme. We simply want peo- ple to avoid the animals them- selves. Risk of transmission is really in direct contact with an infected animal. Unless a dog gets up close to an alive, dead or affected sea lion and ingests some of its urine, it’s not likely to get infected.” But, as Rice pointed out, it’s generally good practice to stay away from them all together. It’s a violation of federal and state laws to harass, disturb, touch or feed marine mam- mals. “Remind people that they’re sharing the beach with wildlife and it’s always a good idea to not interfere with wild animals that are going through a natural process,” he said. “Trying to minimize stress is helpful. These ani- mals are federally protected and they have a right to be on the beach. We want to mini- mize stress on the beach as much as possible. So just stay away from them is my best advice.” Anyone who observes a sick sea lion should stay at least 50 feet away from the animal and call Oregon State Visit us on the web T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM S IUSLAW N EWS Sat. 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