The Los Angeles Unified School District is providing the Marine Mammal Care Center with a temporary outdoor space at Angel’s Gate High School to house sick sea lions before they are released back into the wild.
The campus will provide an overflow triage area with space for about 20 animals.
“It’s a necessary indispensable, life-saving effort," LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
"If there is a need for an amplification of the space, we'll be here to provide it,'' Carvalho said during a news conference Tuesday. "We have the workforce that did this initial work and are ready to do more should the need arise.''
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The district has long partnered with the MMCC on environmental and coastal conservation education programs.
A bloom of toxic algae is responsible for the deaths and illness of sea lions and dolphins across the Southern California Coast. The bloom comes from nutrient-rich, deep water being blown in towards the coast and warmer water.
Animals at the top of the food chain ingest the most toxins: plankton eat the algae, fish eat the plankton and larger marine animals like sea lions, seals and dolphins eat those fish.
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The algae release a toxin, called domoic acid, in their brains that can make the animals sick or kill them.
“Domoic acid is a toxin that interacts primarily in the brain and that is why we see these severe neurological effects in these animals. It changes their behavior, it changes their ability to interact in the environment, and the sooner that we can rescue them and treat them, the better the prognosis is,” Dr. Lauren Palmer, a veterinarian and hospital director at MMCC, said.
With hundreds of animals washing up on beaches because of the bloom, the MMCC is at capacity, holding 113 animals, mostly sea lions.
There is no antidote for domoic acid, so biologists treat the animals for dehydration by giving them fluids, antiseizure medication and sedating them.
The Center has also set up a sea lion resting zone on Venice Beach. The MMCC hopes to help the animals get healthy soon and to free up more space at the care center.
"A super important aspect of what we do is giving them the space and time and place where they hopefully recover and be returned back to their environment," Palmer said.
