Two more oil-soaked sea lions and an elephant seal rescued from the oil spill near Santa Barbara have died, SeaWorld San Diego officials said.
Five animals treated by SeaWorld have died; two sea lions previously died.
The animals arrived at SeaWorld San Diego for care from the site of the oil spill to be treated by the center at their Oiled Wildlife Care Center. The animals were hurt at the Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara, where a broken oil pipe spilled about 105,000 gallons of oil into the ocean.
The two sea lions arrived malnourished, like many young sea lions washing up on the coast of California, SeaWorld officials said. The sea lions and elephant seal had blood samples taken and workers hydrated them and washed the oil off.
One sea lion was having seizures and was unresponsive to care efforts. The team had to euthanize the animals. The adult sea lion and elephant seal passed away early Friday.
Late Thursday, the park received three more sea lions. Their conditions are guarded, but park officials said they plan to start washing the oil off their bodies once the animals have been hydrated and examined by a veterinarian.
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The center has 17 sea lions and five elephant seals from the spill area in their care. The conditions of the animals remain guarded as the center assesses their conditions.
Oil can be damaging to sea lions in that it's irritating to their skin, restricts their ability to thermal regulate and can be toxic if ingested, veterinarians said.
SeaWorld San Diego has deployed three specialists to the site of the spill to help with animal rescue and relief efforts. Assistant curator Mike Price left Monday to help with the spill.
Earlier this week, a team from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network set up at SeaWorld San Diego and washed and treated oil-soaked birds.
