I started a new job a couple weeks ago. If I told you about it, I’d have to kil… no, if I told you about it, you’d have to smell me. Which might kill you, I don’t know. How good are you with the smell of elephant seal scat?
Actually, it’s a pretty interesting job. I work for a marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation center. Plus, this way I can tell you about it, and you don’t have to smell me. Trust me, your nose would appreciate the internet if it knew.
Any questions?
What is the cause of most of your rescue cases (if you had to guess)?
It depends on the kind of animal - most of the elephant seals we rescue are emaciated pups who can’t or won’t eat. A lot of the sea lions are victims of Domoic Acid poisoning and suffer from disorientation, seizures, and brain or kidney damage. We also get a lot of sea lions who have had gunshot wounds or entanglements with plastic or fishing gear.
Harbor seals are often brought in from entanglement or are pups who were picked up by humans or their pets. Before I started here, we actually rescued a harbor seal from as far inland as Lake Tahoe, where people had brought the “cute seal” they found on the beach home.
A variety of animals suffer from parasites, such as those causing leptospirosis or toxoplasmosis, which is of great concern for sea otters.
Homer seals (H. simpsonis) always beach themselves going after jelly donuts.
For some animals we never really find out what is wrong with them.
(Please excuse my anthropomorphism here, but I HAVE to ask)
Do you get any sense at all that the animals are happy to be rescued?
Dolphin rape. Do you stand back and let it happen or turn the hose on them?
Thanks for all that you do for us.
Marine mammals? Cool. 
How did end up in this line of work?
Are you a trained marine biologist, or did you just stumble into this line of work?
Do you actually go out and rescue the animals, or are they all brought to you?
Do you get to participate in the release of rehabilitated animals?
How DO you get that smell out of your clothes?..
I’m jealous. I once wanted to work with marine mammals but ended up sticking with the dry land domestic animals. Not being a very good swimmer may have prevented me from going for it, then again I suppose if you’re trying to get a beached whale back in the water and it rolls over on you, being a good swimmer wouldn’t help much?
Have you had many cetacean rescues or is it mostly pinnipeds and the occasional otters?
Hmm … Occasional Otters? Band name?
How long do animals usually stay with you before they’re rereleased? Do you rescue many animals who cannot be rereleased?
Though since wevets is on the west coast, I don’t think he’ll be rescuing any of your closer relatives.
How do you keep the animals from becoming dependant on humans as a source of food? I’ve seen pictures of bird rehabiliators who feed chicks using a puppet so that the birds don’t become centrated on humans. Do you do anything similar?
How do you teach the animals to hunt for their own food? Do you put fish in their tanks and let them catch them on their own?
This one you may not be able to answer yet, but maybe you’ve spoken to collegues who’ve addressed it: How do you deal with emotional attatchment? Them seal pups are mighty cute. Does it tear you up when you lose one, or it comes time to release them?
Did you need the recomendation of a Congressman or a Senator to get to work in The White House? How did you pass the security/ideology checks? Do they know you post here? Which WH staffer has the biggest blowhole?
OMG, I had to read that twice, you sneaky devil you. 
My step-daughter has expressed serious interest in studying Marine Biology as a major in college. She is also interested in animal rescue efforts.
I’ll direct her to this thread. I’m sure she would have some questions for you.
Anyway…do you have the equal to a triage unit when dealing with incoming injured marine life?
Seinfeldian Question: Ever have to remove a golf ball (or any other obstruction, for that matter) from a blowhole?
I donate, through my work’s charity program, to a marine mammal rescue center near me.
What are some of the weirdest rescue situations you’ve dealt with?
Where are you located? My daughter is doing her senior capstone project studying marine mammals (measuring sea lion skulls to determine how symmetrical they are). She’s at American University in DC, but it’s connected with a marine mammal center in Sausalito, CA.
My brother volunteers at a marine mammal center in NorCal, but I can’t remember which one. Where are you?
Blondebear - That’s a toughie. I’d like to think so, but it’s very difficult to believe when they’re trying to bite you. Some animals get the idea that they’ll feel better when they let you do (X), even if (X) hurts temporarily. Plus, you can always tell when an animal is “up” and active versus when it’s “down.” I don’t know that I’d say they were “happy” when rescued though. One notable exception - our water rescue team disentangled a humpback whale at the end of 2005, and afterwards the whale approached and eyed each person involved in the rescue. It’s not too much of stretch (although it may be a little of one) to say that gratitude could describe the response.
astro Luckily, we rarely have dolphins at our facility. All those we have had have been sufficiently suave not to resort to the desparate tactics of some of their brethren.
Seriously - when we get a cetacean - dolphin or porpoise, usually it’s so ill that it has difficulty breathing, much less performing other, um, er… acts.
GAH! They can TALK! :eek:
runs screaming from thread