Need volunteers to help save marine mammals

The Marine Mammal Center in Morro Bay is looking for volunteers.

This comes as the seal calving season begins now.

Every winter, hundreds of elephant seals travel to the central coast to breed and have their young.

Unfortunately, puppies don’t always cope on their own, so this is where the Marine Mammal Center comes in to help them.

“I was actually quite surprised at the sheer number of seals there are on the beach,” said Cole Frost of San Diego.

More and more baby elephant seals are starting to appear on the shore of San Simeon.

“We always have a little guessing game every year in December to see when the first baby is due and the first baby of this year is born on December 15,” said Polly Tatton, a Friends of the Elephant Seals facilitator.

By the end of January, there will be hundreds of puppies on the sand.

“They weigh 60, 70 pounds and they go up to … they gain 200 pounds while they’re here breastfeeding from their mother, then the mother leaves and then they’re alone,” Tatton explained. .

The mother leaves the baby after about a month to head north to their feeding grounds and some of the young are not doing very well.

“They are really malnourished and emaciated and right now we are getting many reports of very skinny elephant seals washing up on the beaches,” said Aliah Meza, director of operations at the Marine Mammal Center in Morro Bay.

Meza says it’s the busiest time of year and volunteers are the backbone of it all.

“They can save needy marine mammals,” Meza explained. “Take care of them once they’ve been rescued, then help them be released back into the ocean.”

The Center says weather and ocean conditions also play a role in the number of strandings each year.

But with a dozen baby seals on the beach now and more and more visitors, the Marine Mammal Center is gearing up for what’s to come.

“If you see a needy marine mammal on the beach, be sure to keep a safe distance, stay away from the animal and call our hotline,” Meza said.

The Marine Mammal Center hotline is 415-289-SEAL.

If you are interested in volunteering at the Marine Mammal Center, the deadline to apply is January 1.

For more information, click here.