Radiation from Japan's nuclear disaster could be the reason why more than a thousand sick sea lion pups have washed up on the beaches of Southern California in the past few months, experts believe.
Earlier this week, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an 'unusual mortality event' after the starving pups washed ashore in record numbers since the start of the year.
The NOAA has assembled a team of biologists, veterinarians and public health officials to try and determine why roughly 1,100 of the frail animals have become stranded and had to enter marine mammal rehabilitation centers up the west coast.
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Sick: Radiation from Japan's nuclear disaster could be the reason why more than a thousand sick sea lion pups have washed up on the beaches of Southern California in the past few months
Shallow grave: Lifeguard Cliff Kjoss buries a sea lion pup after it was found dead on Dockweiler State Beach on April 5, 2013
The pups have turned up, sick or dying, on the beaches of Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Diego counties.
The number that have been admitted to rehabilitation facilities has far outpaced historical stranding rates for 2008 to 2012, according to NOAA. Last year, the number that washed up was just 100.
And the number washing ashore likely represents just a fraction of the animals in trouble in the ocean.
Unusual: Peter Wallerstein of Marine Animal Rescue transports a malnourished sea lion pup to a cage at White Point Park on April 5, 2013 in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, California
Sad: 'RIP' is shown scrawled near a dead sea lion pup after it was found on Dockweiler State Beach
The agency told CBS Los Angeles that it's unlikely radiation is to blame but it hasn't been ruled out.
Sarah Wilkin, the NOAA's marine mammal stranding coordinator for the state of California, told Wired that the unhealthy sea lions are continuing to wash ashore in vast numbers.
'We're still getting strandings of animals at kind of equal rates to what they had been,' she said. 'We don’t know how long the event is going to go on.'
The scale of the stranding mirrors what has been seen during El Niño years when food becomes scarce because warm waters cause ocean productivity to decrease. But it's been years since there was an El Niño event.
Rehab: Veterinary technician Sophie Guarasci prepares to feed California sea lion pups at the Marine Mammal Center on April 1, 2013 in Sausalito, California
On the mend: California sea lion pups swim in a pool during a feeding at the Marine Mammal Center after they were found washed up on the beach
Wilkin said that the condition of many of the latest pups to find themselves stranded is worse than those that washed up earlier in the year.
'We don't know how long they've been trying to survive in the ocean on their own,' Wilkins said.
According to Wired, scientists will analyze tissue samples for pathogens, toxins, and parasites, though all of those things would likely strike adult sea lions, not just pups.
Ecologists, oceanographers, and fisheries scientists will examine any offshore changes that could be damaging the habitat of the sea lions, or causing their food source - mainly sardines and anchovies - to disappear.
