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
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