Walking into the animal care area of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, Lindsey Van Schoick still expects to see Sidney, a plump harbor seal, lying in her favorite spot near the doorway waiting for her customary belly rub.
But on a recent Friday, the spot was empty.
Sidney, the young harbor seal Van Schoick helped wean and raise after she was rescued in February, wasn’t there anymore.
Instead, the seal is getting acclimated to her new forever East Coast home at the New York Aquarium. The aquarium is operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society and is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium. Sidney joins five other harbor seals at the Coney Island facility.
“It was hard,” Van Shoick said of saying goodbye to the animal she formed a close bond with over months of care at the Laguna Beach-based rescue center. “The whole month leading up to her departure, I could barely talk about it.”
But the animal care specialist knew, “my job with her is done and she is in her forever home now. It was so special and I’m grateful for that.”
PMMC rescues and rehabilitates marine mammals found stranded along Orange County beaches. Unlike most patients, Sidney couldn’t be released by into the wild, she had been found too young and spent too long in care, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decided. Typically rescued animals are destined for the ocean after they recover.
On Nov. 21, Sidney made her cross-country journey to New York City on a Federal Express flight. She was accompanied by two of the aquarium’s trainers, who had spent a few days at PMMC learning Sidney’s routine, what she eats and which toys she likes to play with.
Since her arrival in Brooklyn, she’s been kept in her own pool and play area to get used to her new surroundings and get to know the people who will now care for her.
In PMMC’s nearly 50 year history, only 31 of 10,000 rescued animals have been placed into captivity. It can be deemed an animal shouldn’t return to the wild for a few reasons, including medical conditions, injuries, deformities and behavioral issues such as poor hunting skills.
In 2018, the center placed another harbor seal, Lumiere, with the Aquarium of Niagara in upstate New York. Lumiere was a month old when he was found at San Onofre State Beach, but as he grew he was unable to swallow fish normally.
Abalone Cove rescue
It was around 8 p.m. on Feb. 11, when Rachel and John Stanaland, both volunteers at PMMC, got a call from a neighbor saying they heard animal cries coming from a sea cave. Rachel Stanaland, also a veterinarian, contacted PMMC to get permission to check on what she thought was likely a sea lion.
“When I heard the cries, I said, ‘That’s not a sea lion it’s a harbor seal,’ which was surprising given the time of year,” Stanaland said. “We had flashlights and climbed into the cave. The tide was coming in, if we hadn’t gotten her, the tide would have washed her away.”
Rachel Stanaland found the pup at the back of the rocky cave off Abalone Cave in Laguna Beach, her umbilical cord still attached. She was covered in her lanugo coat, a white, super-soft coat typically shed in utero. A premature birth might have been the reason her mother abandoned her, Stanaland said.
A PMMC team met the couple at the beach. After her rescue, the pup named Sidney after the girl who first heard her cries, required around-the-clock care.
“There’s this fear that sometimes an animal will just not make it,” said Van Schoick, who has been at PMMC now for 21 years and was among those providing constant care. “I didn’t feel like the odds were in her favor. Harbor seals can get an infection and suddenly die. And, you don’t know if there is something internally wrong.”
Still, she said, “you don’t want to hold back on the love. Sometimes I laid down next to her and just tried to be like her mom.”
After the first week, things began looking more promising for Sidney. Though she didn’t take to bottle feeding, she did respond well to tube feeding, even helping the animal care team by swallowing the tube on her own, enjoying a fish smoothie of nutrients and supplements.
After a month, her vital signs stabilized. Over the next two-to-three months, she grew stronger and plumper. She also began developing a distinct personality.
She would make really loud mooing sounds and wanted constant attention. Van Schoick and Michele Hunter, PMMC’s longtime animal care supervisor, would let her roam in the center’s upstairs offices.
“She was always mischievous and curious,” Van Shoick said. “When we finally brought her downstairs, she roamed with us. We’d wet down the hall and she’d go for long slides. It was very unique for a harbor seal to have that personality.”
Of the three species the center most often cares for, Van Schoick said the California sea lions are the most social with each other and lie in a pile with a hierarchy. Elephant seals really only interact with each other when they haul out on beaches or rocks and harbor seals are into having their own space.
“In a pool, they’ll all bob in their own space,” Van Schoick said. “But Sidney was playful and friendly. She liked to be touched and she had spots she’s liked to have rubbed.”
Close contact
For Van Schoick, Hunter and others at PMMC, the experience with Sidney was a special gift.
The center’s protocol is typically hands-off and no talking to the recuperating animals. Volunteers and staff don’t develop relationships with the animals – doing so could lessen the animals’ survival instincts and jeopardize their chances in the wild.
“We were able to touch and hold her,” Van Shoick said. “We were able to make eye contact. And when she got older, we were able to play ball with her. It was special to have a bond like this with a harbor seal. In this COVID year, it’s been something extra special to bring a smile to us.”
Now Van Shoick and Stanaland are looking forward to updates on Sidney’s new adventure.
“I think she’ll love it there,” Van Shoick said. “She needs enrichment and that’s something we couldn’t give her here. Our focus will be on saving new animals.”
