A California sea lion in critical condition was rescued off the coast of Salt Spring Island on Monday. The animal is now under the care of Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre.
Locals say that it was in distress, lethargic, and just stayed in one place the whole time.
"We had several reports of a male sea lion in distress on Salt Spring through the weekend," said Martin Haulena, head veterinarian of Vancouver Aquarium.
Looking at the pictures they received, Haulena describes that the animal is in a very poor condition. It is so thin that the ribs and spine can be seen. It also suffered "massive weight loss."
Together with the Island Wildlife Natural Care Centre and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Haulena helped bring the animal from the coast to Vancouver Aquarium's rescue center to receive medical treatments.
They then confirmed that the sea lion is a male, believed to be five to seven years old.
Aquarium's staff are currently working to stabilize the animal. He is now being treated with gastric protectants, subcutaneous fluids, and antibiotics. However, it is still uncertain why the sea lion is in trouble. He will stay under observation and will have to undergo further examination.
"The animal is in such poor condition that now is not the time to perform potentially stressful medical procedures," said Haulena.
He added that it will be hard to target the treatment without diagnostic information.
California sea lion, known for its playfulness, intelligence, social behavior and noisy barking, is a common animal found from British Columbia down to the southern part of Baja California.
It has a steady growing population of approximately 238,000. Aside from Baja California and British Columbia, California sea lions can also be seen in Monterey, San Francisco, and Galapagos Islands.
Sea lions are the most common patients of The Marine Mammal Center, a nonprofit veterinary research hospital and educational center devoted to rehabilitate and rescue ill and injured marine mammals.
The common reasons why the sea lions are rescued are: toxicity, leptospirosis, pneumonia, cancer, entanglement on fishing gears, gunshots and malnutrition.
