The News Blog is a place where updates to the guidebooks are posted. It is also a repository for news and information related to the state and national parks of the Bay Area, including upcoming events, benefits, and rallies to support our parks.
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Way Out There Press Newsletter
The current newsletter can now be viewed in the Newsletter Archive. The next newsletter will be sent out June 30, 2010. Sign up now to have the newsletter emailed directly to your inbox.
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September 2010
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2010: August | July | June | May | April | March | February | January
2009: December | November | October
May 27, 2010
Finally getting over a bad cold. Feels like I've abandoned my blog lately, but now it's time to get things back on track. I'll be going back to my volunteer job at the Marine Mammal Center tomorrow night, working the Friday night shift in the Harbor Seal Hospital. Saturday I'll go back to the Presidio, working at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery. I've been missing my work there for weeks now and really want to get back to a regular schedule with helping the transformation of the Presidio into a beautiful national park. Then on Sunday I'll be at the top of Mount Tamalpais, working as a docent at the Gravity Car Barn, a small museum that tells the history of the old Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway. In addition to this, next Thursday I will start a training on Angel Island, learning to become a docent at the Immigration Station. I really missing getting out and going hiking, working with wild animals and the beautiful natural world, so I'm glad to be feeling healthy again.
Look for Way Out There Press on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=346012300719.
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Way Out There Press Newsletter
The current newsletter can now be viewed in the Newsletter Archive. The next newsletter will be sent out June 30, 2010. Sign up now to have the newsletter emailed directly to your inbox.
Current News Blog page:
September 2010
News Blog Archive:
2010: August | July | June | May | April | March | February | January
2009: December | November | October
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May 29, 2010 The Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands is a rescue center and hospital for seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales that become injured, sick, or orphaned in the waters of San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. I've been working as a volunteer in the Harbor Seal Hospital for the past two months, helping out with feeding the animals, cleaning, and doing a variety of other chores. The Marine Mammal Center has more than 800 volunteers and it is a great opportunity to help the marine wildlife of California. The birthing season for harbor seals runs from February through August, so it has been a busy time. In the early part of the season, many of the harbor seal pups that are rescued are born prematurely and still have their umbilical cords attached. This causes their mother to abandon them, and they are found helpless and hungry on beaches along a 600-mile stretch of the California coast. Others are rescued because of human interference, another reason to cause their mothers to abandon them. When they are this young, they need to be tube fed because they haven't learned to catch fish on their own yet. The video here shows a demonstration of the tube feeding process. |
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When pups are old enough to start eating fish, the next stage in their learning process is to teach them to take the fish while they are laying on the floor of their pen. This is the most difficult stage for me, because the pups need to be positioned just right, and they need to be gently taught how to swallow a six-inch herring, tail and all. After the harbor seal pups have learned to take fish, the next stage is to hand feed them in the pool. This is my favorite part, even though it also involves the greatest likelihood of getting bitten. The seals are hungry and take the fish eagerly, although often they need help positioning the fish vertically so they can easily swallow it down. The video here shows one of the pools where the harbor seals are fed. I think they thought my camera was a fish.
The final stage of the learning process is to free feed the pups in a larger pool. This is the easiest step in the process, because we just throw big handfuls of fish into the pool and let the seals chase after them. We have to watch out for the seals that are less aggressive, to make sure that they get their share. Then when the seals reach a healthy weight, they are happily realeased back into the ocean, nursed back to health and with the ability to fend for themselves and catch their own fish. |
May 27, 2010Finally getting over a bad cold. Feels like I've abandoned my blog lately, but now it's time to get things back on track. I'll be going back to my volunteer job at the Marine Mammal Center tomorrow night, working the Friday night shift in the Harbor Seal Hospital. Saturday I'll go back to the Presidio, working at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery. I've been missing my work there for weeks now and really want to get back to a regular schedule with helping the transformation of the Presidio into a beautiful national park. Then on Sunday I'll be at the top of Mount Tamalpais, working as a docent at the Gravity Car Barn, a small museum that tells the history of the old Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway. In addition to this, next Thursday I will start a training on Angel Island, learning to become a docent at the Immigration Station. I really missing getting out and going hiking, working with wild animals and the beautiful natural world, so I'm glad to be feeling healthy again.