Upon my return, it was right back to seal rescuing, my own version of normal. Friday we finally got to make our first attempt at our entanglement girl. You can see her here, snuggled up against a big male on that same inaccessible dock she loves so much. We had to approach by boat (and by "we" I mean "not me" as I was on a neighboring dock taking pictures...). The boat disturbed the sea lions, of course, but we were lucky that she was the last to catch on that the ruckus was anything out of the ordinary. We actually had a net on her for a moment, but she managed to slip away.
Saturday I decided to go back down looking for our entanglement girl and while there I missed out on a hike along the Morro Bay jetty. My friends and crew that remained behind picked up Comedian here. At a mere 11 kg, she was easy enough to carry, but she was at the absolute farthest point of the jetty. You can't tell in her photo, but something is way wrong with her hind end - it's lumpy, bumpy, and distorted and she wasn't using it at all. I haven't seen her name on the website and I've been afraid to ask if she's still around. At least we were able to make her comfortable during her stay. She got the good drugs.
Thinking how lucky I was to be missing the jetty rescue, I was cursed by the Fates with a hike out to Hazard Canyon for a much larger critter, Gainer. Gainer was snuggled up to a random beach goer (very abnormal behavior for a sea lion) and he was also skinny and tucked. We later discovered a mysterious pus filled hump on his back to boot. I was surprised by how many people questioned this rescue ("how do you know he isn't just sunning himself?") and disturbed, even, that we were actively heckled by a group of guys who insisted, among other things, that my privately funded non-profit was "a waste of tax payers' money." Later one of them nearly ran over Gainer in the parking lot. So sweet. On the other hand, I was delighted with the handful of folks who did help us carry his 58 kg off of the beach as we really couldn't have done it alone.Sunday we went back down to Avila to make a second attempt at our entanglement girl. I had a spot on the boat this time (dorky life vest and all) which was infinitely more satisfying than watching from the pier. She was wise to us, though, and her boyfriends were particularly vociferous and menacing. Even the wind was against us, as it kept pushing us out of position. We did have one sea lion who decided to join us in our boat, but fortunately he was just a tiny yearling (who was presumably just pleased to be able to get into anything, as he was way too small to make it on to the popular haul out). Discouraged by our failure to get the net anywhere near entanglement girl, we headed home.
As if defeat wasn't depressing enough, we were then dispatched to pick up a shark bitten otter just before sunset. A few kids had pulled her out of the surf and then remained out themselves as they'd figured out the source of her injury... The otter promptly died, which was distressing, but convenient. It saved us from having to transport her to Monterey, at least. They probly would have let her stay anyway (as they did with the last late night agonal breathing otter we had) but they would have asked us to stick around until she passed... I didn't take any pictures (though she was a beauty) as I am done taking pictures of dying otters. In fact, I sort of shut down altogether and let my other friend do all the bagging and tagging. I dealt with the phone calls and the equipment. It doesn't usually get to me so much, the death and dying, especially from something so natural as predation, but I guess it's been a pretty graphic summer.
Anyway, Monday is usually my day off for seals, but since Harbor Patrol had my cell number handy, they called me first and thus I got to go on one of my most exciting rescues yet. Hoping to catch our entangled girl, they'd set a trap over night, leaving a gate open on a floating dock that's popular with the sea lions. This morning they cruised by and discovered a different entangled animal hauled out there. They simply closed the gate and waited for us to arrive. I skipped the dorky life vest this time, but we did take a couple herding boards (as our entangled boy was not alone in the trap) and soon we'd caught ourselves BonusFred. (We wanted to name him just Fred, as that's what the harbor regulars were calling him, but Fred is a seal that was rescued in 2003. So we added the "bonus" as he was an extra, bonus entanglement, a consolation prize of sorts...) His entanglement is way worse, anyway, than entanglement girl's, so all in all I'd say it was a good day's work. Certainly a much better note to end on than last night's otter.But perhaps what I'm most excited about, really, is the pie safe I bought from the furniture salesman I call "The Bed Man" or, alternatively, "The Devil." Like a character out of the Twilight Zone, he always has something I can't live without, though it rarely fits in my home or my budget. It all started with the bed (thus the initial moniker "Bed Man") but he has since sold me a marble pedestal, a cute not really functional desk, a table that acts like a desk, 2 couches and a chair. I find it intriguing that he never actually denies being the Devil. He seems to take great pride and pleasure in having just the right piece at just the wrong time. This piece in particular he claims he'd only put on display 30 minutes before I'd arrived. I haven't had a chance to pick it up (or arrange to have it delivered) and I am not necessarily in a hurry as I have no idea where to put it. I do think, however, that I will go by and visit it tomorrow and perhaps take a photo so you, too, can see the splendor of my frivolous spending. That is, if I have the time, as maybe, just maybe, I'll be out hunting entanglement girl again...
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