So Long Muffler and Diesel

“Are we ready?” I ask.

Tim replies,“Yep.”

The kids pull back the doors on the transport kennels and there our seals went, undulating towards the water on Bishop’s Beach in Homer. Diesel and Muffler looked stunned and confused as they made their way to the water. They had a line of cheering children to their right and stern officials looking on to their left. And in the middle was me, standing next to an empty kennel furiously trying to snap pictures and holding back tears at the same time. They were tears of many emotions: happiness, sadness, fear and relief. I was happy to see Diesel and Muffler returned to the wild but, sad to see ‘my babies’ go as well. I feared something/everything was going to happen to them and we would not be there for protection. I also felt this sense of relief at seeing them go. Muffler had made it despite being so close to death two months ago. She had been chosen to be the one outfitted with a satellite tag for that very reason.

I almost forgot what a rough time Muffler had the first two weeks we had her. She came to us on May 23rd from the Homer Spit after she was observed on the beach alone for a 24 hour period. Her umbilical remnant was still very fresh, so it was estimated that she was less than 5 days old. Muffler arrived dehydrated and underweight. She was given fluids sub cutaneously and via tube to rehydrate her. Despite this Muffler struggled to produce a bowel movement. We tried administering fluids, laxatives and enemas but still nothing. X-rays revealed she had an intestinal impaction (blockage). This is something common among stranded pinnipeds not just seal pups. Stranded seals and sea lions will ingest gravel, sand, anything nearby for reasons unknown. Stress? Hunger? It is most likely for pups that they inadvertently ingest it while suckling on a flipper.

There really wasn’t much more we could do for her but keep doing what we were doing and watch for poop. At the same time Muffler was running a fever and would experience on again/off again lethargy. Whether this was related to the impaction or not was left to be seen. It got so bad she could barely hold her head up and would remain in the same position we left her in for hours at a time or until we went to tube her. Then one day she pooped...and I’ve never seen so many people excited over seal poop. She remained with a high temperature and mild lethargy for a few more days and then she started to progress. I remember seeing her rolling around in her tote with her flippers in the air and that is when I knew she had turned a corner...she was finally acting like a kid. She also had turned into the most vocal of our seals and would call out to other seals or to any noise we made. I was happy to see Muffler this way. From that point on she moved to condoville, was weaned on to fish and eventually joined Gasket in ODL 5. It was easy to forget the rocky start she had especially when seeing her make a break for the ocean on that beach in Homer.

Let’s not forget Diesel, he was there too, although his story isn’t so complicated. Diesel was observed over multiple days by the Wolfforth family in Kachemak Bay. Momma was seen in the area, but after over 24 hours of observation they were not reunited. Diesel was captured and driven by boat to Homer. Once at the SeaLife Center, Diesel weighed 10.0 kilograms. His examination showed multiple lacerations around his head and face. We were never able to determine what had attacked him. All we could do was administer antibiotics and keep the wounds clean.

If you can recall from my previous posts Diesel was the one to give me my wake-up call regarding my restraining techniques. He was the one that made me realize that being on auto-pilot around animals has the potential to be very dangerous. I learned a very important lesson from Diesel and I will always remember him for that.

Diesel had been weaned on to fish quite easily and he progressed to ODL 5 with little drama. When it came to co-habitating with Gasket and Muffler he held his own and got his fair share of fish that came shooting out of the fish cannons. That also led to him gaining weight with ease and reaching the 25 kg release weight goal by the end of August. By the time he was cleared for release in early September he was a whopping 29.6 kg. It was safe to call him orca bait at that point.

That extra poundage didn’t seem to slow him down any and he beat Muffler into water even with a bit of a delayed start. Diesel had been turned around in his kennel and I needed to tip it up to get him turned around and on his way. By that time Muffler was about half way down the beach. Once Diesel was in the water I could see him pause for a moment and look back at us on the beach and then swim a little farther out. He did this a few more times probably to make sure we were really letting him go and that we weren’t going to rush into the water after him with nets in hand to snatch him up and take him back to Seward. It wasn’t too long before I lost sight of him and I turned my attention to Muffler and that florescent orange satellite tag on her back. She was easy to follow and she was slowly making her way out into the bay very much in the opposite direction of where Diesel had been heading. I was told later that at releases involving multiple seals, their solitary instinct kicks in and they usually go their separate ways. We were only able to track Muffler and she seems to be sticking to the Kachemak Bay area. I can only hope that Diesel is doing well on his own. I hope that both seals have a long and happy existence.

How do you solve a problem like Gasket?

Right from birth Gasket has been a project for all of us in Rehab. A caesarean born pup cut from the womb by native subsistence hunters, Gasket defied the odds. Not only did he survive those first critical hours after birth, Gasket thrived. The first thing he saw when he came into this world was a human face. How could he ever grow up to be a normal harbour seal when we would be his primary caregivers? Harbour Seals are generally intolerant of close contact with other seals except for the strong bond formed between mothers and pups. We worked hard at making his interaction with us short and unpleasant. Tubing was brief; a towel over the head, some manhandling and a tube being forced down his esophagus. He grew to very much dislike towels, but over time he was able to pretty much tube himself. He associated the tube with a warm full feeling in his tummy. At a distance Gasket was always curious of us, but if we broke that buffer zone he would get melodramatic, whine and retreat in the opposing direction. He was such a drama queen. When handling him he’d cry out as if he was being burned by our touch. He soon learned to roll from our grasp and as he got fatter and fatter it got harder and harder to restrain him. He was our most gregarious seal. He seemed to posses the most human qualities out of all of our seals.

There was always one thing about Gasket that blew me away; he took to the water like...well...a seal. He loved the water and even as a pup he demonstrated such grace when swimming. Harbour seal pups are able to swim and dive within minutes of birth, but that’s with mom. Gasket did all of this on his own. He never had issues with being active in the water like some of our other seals. As soon as that tote filled up he was rolling and slipping against the walls of the tote. When he was moved out into a condo he spent the majority of his day swimming in his condo pool. We would have moved him into an ODL earlier if he had not have had the issues he did with fish.

If you can believe it, Gasket liked being tubed. He could have cared less about the fish we tossed in with him during his swims. He was observed tracking his own poop more often than the fish. It wasn’t until we got some live salmon smolts to toss in did he start taking an interest. Finally, we got him to ignore his poop and track the little salmon and somehow he knew that the fish was something he was supposed to eat. He would kill and eat each little salmon we put in with him. Once we were confident he could track, kill and eat live fish the next step was to get him eating dead herring so he could be weaned off fish formula and gain some weight. For Gasket that was easier said than done. We were happy to see him be such a little hunter but he completely ignored the herring and whatever we did to it to make it interesting to him. We tried small pieces, big pieces, fish-like pieces, no heads, no tails and whole fish and still nothing. We starved him for a couple of weeks. Only tubing him one meal and tossing fish into his condo and still nothing. It was time to try force feeding. Force feeding wasn’t really forceful with Gasket. The fish head only needed to be pushed into the corner of his mouth and he took the fish no problem. Again the many facets to Gasket’s personality that constantly perplexed us. He still wouldn’t eat fish in his pool so we took the next step and left fish on his condo deck overnight. We came in the next morning and the fish were gone. He eventually progressed to eating fish we tossed into his pool. His next move was to the ODL. This area consists of a 5 ft deep in ground pool with a haul out area. Gasket did very well here and again spent most of his day in his pool swimming. Even though he was slow to get on fish he was still ahead of the rest of the seal kids. He had to wait another couple of weeks before he was able to meet another seal... or two.

Gasket graduated to the pre-release pool in anticipation of Muffler and Diesel joining him. There was really nothing to it, Muffler and Diesel were plopped on deck and we walked away. No huge confrontations or scraps; just the occasional snort and a vigorously waving foreflipper to ward off someone who has gotten too close. They spent their days swimming or hauled out on deck. It got pretty routine for us. We were supposed to interact with the seals in ODL 5 as little as possible. We’d check up on Gasket, Diesel and Muffler via camera and toss fish 4 times a day. Nothing unusual until a little over a week before Gasket was to be released.

We noticed Gasket squinting one day. And it wasn’t until during one of his blood draws that someone was able to have a good look at the eye. It turns out that he had some calcification on the lens. It kind of scared us. He was so close to release and this could potentially debilitate him. He was pulled from ODL 5 and put into one of the indoor pools where we could net him out daily to administer eye drops. The calcification didn’t really get better, but didn’t get worse either and since it was only in one eye he would still be able to function normally other than a bit of cloudiness seen out of the affected eye. So there it was Gasket was ready for release.

His release date was September 4th in Valdez, Alaska. I hear the release went well. I was unable to go as I was left to care for the whole of rehab for two days. Gasket was fitted with a satellite tag and had been tracked to the Valdez boat harbour the next day which wasn’t very promising but recently he showed up at Columbia Glacier outside of Valdez. This remote tidewater glacier is home to one of the largest year round seal colonies in South-Central Alaska. We are very excited and proud to see where he ended up.

Finally, to Gasket, farewell friend and I hope you have a long and happy existence.

Week Nine – Unexpected Goodbye

Where to start…I was pretty sure this week was going to be pretty much straight forward. I was writing my notes up during a lull in chores on my Wednesday and thought to myself there wasn’t much to write about this week: there was Muffler and Diesel’s move into the big pool with Gasket, Spark Plug graduated from seal in tote to big girl in ODL 1, and the arrival of Chassis the Spectacled Eider. There was this tiny voice in the back of my mind saying, “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

Chassis came to us on July 11th from Nome, Alaska. Nome is famous for being the finish line of the Iditarod, the annual dog sled race that stretches over 1000 miles of harsh Alaskan wilderness. She had an open wound on her on her neck that exposed her wind pipe and esophagus. Chassis had been suffering from this wound for some time because the some of the tissue had dried out and was contaminated with sand. She was placed in a quarantine area inside of rehab and unlike Nozzle, we were the primary caretakers of this bird.

Since Chassis was contained in quarantine within quarantine we were required to shower out of rehab twice a day in order to care for her. We shower in to care for her and when we are finished we need to shower out in order to re-enter rehab. Her care is pretty basic. The new and old food needs to be weighed out. The deck needs to be sprayed down and her water drinker washed and re-filled. The hard part is netting her in order to force feed her fish that contains her medication. I am surprised I can catch her because there are many forces working against me: she’s a smart bird and she learns from every mistake I make, the net is damn heavy and cumbersome, and I have to straddle the deck of a 10 ft deep pool full of frigid water in the process. Chassis and I both work up a sweat, well that is if ducks could sweat. When I finally have her restrained I give us both a minute to catch our breath before I force feed her. That is the easy part. I ensure her wings and feet are firmly tucked close to her body and I use one hand to tip her head back until her bill opens. My finger slides down closer to the back of the mouth and with the other hand I insert the fish until her swallowing reflex kicks in and she swallows the fish down on her own. I let her go and that’s the end of her ordeal for the evening.

Friday was the first time I was to go in and do Chassis’s routine on my own. I was making good time. I was hoping to care for her and shower in and out in an hour. My roommate was coming by for a tour at 8:30 pm and I was right on schedule. I just happened to look in the rehab hallway and there was Piston on the floor being manually stimulated to breathe by Michelle…

I will not repeat the words I chose to utter to myself as I closed the door to the boot barn to put my boots on. There was a lot of, “Why? #$%@ Why?” He had been lethargic and had thrown up bile a few times that day, but he had never been considered that sick. His temperature had been normal that afternoon and his latest white blood cell count was normal as well. There was no indication that this was going to happen.

I finished with my choice words to myself and walked on to the scene and asked, “What can I do?” Michelle put me to task. It wasn’t long before Dr. Carrie and Elizabeth arrived. Piston’s temp was dropping and he wasn’t breathing. Both women snapped into action and we had Piston on heating pads on the crash cart in Tim’s office getting the oxygen hooked up. Fluid bags were being warmed in the sink to be placed in and around Piston to keep him warm. My role became apparent right away and I was set to keep a record of Piston’s vitals and the drugs being administered. There was that initial shock that Piston was crashing, but there was no time to dwell on it. We were trying to save his life and that was all that mattered in that room.

Some of the drugs being used were familiar like dopram and atropine. There were others that I was not. They were used in the same sequence and for the same reasons as with Buckle. We were assisting Piston’s breathing, but that didn’t seem like enough. So Dr. Carrie decided to intubate Piston. I was responsible for keeping a light on the back of the throat while the tube was being inserted. This is the opposite of tubing, here the tube is supposed to go down the trachea. Once the tube was fixed in place the machine was turned back on and he was getting a direct line of oxygen instead of oxygen just being pumped into a nose cone for him to breathe in. Dr. Carrie also decided to insert a catheter into Piston to aid in administering drugs intravenously. The first attempt failed, something just didn’t set right and the catheter tube was removed. She stopped to monitor vitals and observed the heart beat was weak but somewhat steady. She then set to inserting another catheter and this one was a success. I can’t recall if Dr. Carrie ever did inject anything into the catheter before checking Piston’s vitals once more. She checked his pupil dilation before she called his time of death. She explained that his dilated pupils indicated that he was already gone.

I immediately went into business mode and started cleaning up. I thought to myself, “No time to grieve. Things need to get done.” I tried to put on this crusty, bitchy exterior to keep people away and I set to checking on our other animals. I let the other intern cry and be comforted by others. I didn’t want to be comforted because if someone did I was going to crack. I finished my observations of the other animals and went back into the office to write in the records. I must have been really focused because I didn’t notice Elizabeth come in behind me. She placed her hand on my shoulder and asked how I was doing and that was it…

I turned to Elizabeth and blurted out, “He wasn’t supposed to get sick.” And I began to cry. It was true; he wasn’t supposed to get sick. Piston had been under our care for more than a month. All we had to worry about him was if we could get him eating fish and off of formula. This was a low blow. I felt like I was falling apart. This was not a thing I did. I wasn’t supposed to show emotion, that’s how it’s always been. I’m the middle child. I’m the one that had to keep it together. My sister was the baby and the sensitive one, my brother, the oldest dealt with things with his anger. I was the one to hold it together and I usually kept my emotions to myself.

I expressed this to Elizabeth and she pretty much threw my own words back into my face. Reminding me what I had said at the end of my post about Buckle’s death. [“Everyone grieves in their own fashion in this line of work ... That is how we can come back in the next day and the day after that and so on.”] It hurt. Was I not smart enough to learn from my own words? I had an unspoken bond with this animal, so why wasn’t I allowing myself to mourn his loss? The answer was I was conflicted. If I was serious about rehabilitation as a career choice I couldn’t have an attachment to the animals I treat or I would go through this each time an animal died. But I can’t be totally insensitive towards the animals I treat or why do this job at all?

I’m still fighting within myself about this issue. I’m not sure what the right answer is. I do know it will probably be a balance I will have to discover on my own. For now I have a new buddy I cuddle with at night… he’s a stuffed harbor seal named Piston.

Week Eight – Movin' on up

After my marathon of a post last week I thought I’d take it easy and give you all some updates on my progress and how the animals are doing.

So I’ve now graduated to tubing. Most of the other interns were chomping at the bit to try it, but I was very reluctant to give it a try. I felt I was just getting comfortable with restraining and then I was to be tossed into something that involves a lot more risk to the animal. I had received some instruction from the seasonal girls and Elizabeth about how to insert the tube, what to look and listen for, and how to withdraw the tube, but I still couldn’t help but think of the “What ifs?” What if I went down the trachea instead of the esophagus? What if I heard stomach sounds but was actually in the lungs? What if I didn’t pull the tube out properly and he aspirates formula? And so on. Luckily for me we went over these worst case scenarios and what to do when they present themselves. My fears were abated slightly but I had that nagging feeling in the back of my head.

On my Monday Tim took Laura and I out back to condoville and gave us our tubing tutorial. He talked us through tubing our first animal and then sat back and supervised us as we tubed our second seal. I seemed to do everything correctly. The seal was still alive when I was through. It was a success? Of course my confidence grew the more I tubed. Michelle was there watching over my shoulder for the next few days as I practiced the basics Tim had taught us. After I had that all down the next thing to focus on was style. Just like with restraining I got the basics down that everyone must do correctly and then I worked on how I open the mouth, how I hold the head and how I keep the mouth open for the tuber. I took things I liked about the seasonal girls’ style and made them my own. I also avoided things that others did that made me uncomfortable. I liked it when the tuber talked to me and told me what they were doing every step along the way. As a restrainer I had to focus on the animal and not on what the tuber was doing so it was nice when I was told that meds were being administered, or that formula was coming, or that she was crimping off the tube and pulling out. So I talk my restrainer’s ear off when tubing. I also worked on where I would crimp the tube, how many times I crimped before I pulled the tube out. Again the more I tubed the more I was comfortable with how I was tubing.

Well I wasn’t the only one moving on to bigger and better things… Gasket moved into ODL 5. This was the big pre-release pool area. Once we were confident in knowing Gasket was eating dead herring on his own and that he had a clean bill of health he was moved into the big house. I would guesstimate that the pool is 20 ft in diameter and no more than 10 ft deep, which meant lots of room for Gasket to swim around in. This move also meant he was getting less human interaction. As the kids move from the totes in the inside hallway, to condoville, to the ODL’s they receive less and less contact with us. As soon as the seals are on fish we minimize our contact as much as possible. Only entering the ODL’s twice a day to spray off the decks and throwing their fish over the fence or using the fish cannon system. The fish cannons are used in the big pool to eject fish right into the pool for the seals to eat. It is a series of heavy duty water hoses hooked up to the salt water system where we can drop a fish into the hose and the water pressure pushes the fish along the length of hose into the pool. Essentially Gasket is fed fish where we want him to be fed without him even seeing us.

During this past week we saw a new addition to rehab come in. A female Harbour Seal came to us from Homer. We had gotten a call from a network member in Homer about a pup alone on a busy beach. The mom was seen hanging around nearby, but the amount of people in the area prevented her from reuniting with her pup. The decision was made to pick up and transport the pup to us. She came in relatively good health (9.5 kg). She had some lacerations on her hind flippers, but other than that she was in great shape. Since she seemed relatively healthy I decided to name her before anyone else got a chance. I chose Spark Plug and everyone else seemed pleased with my choice. We started swimming her in the shallow 50/50 mix a few days after her arrival. Day by day she progressed to a higher water level and a water mix with less and less warm water. She seemed to take to the water like Gasket did and was very active during her swims. Spark Plug wasn’t even here a week before she was eating fish. She joined the ranks of our fish eating seals: Gasket, Muffler, Diesel, Gear, Manifold and Clutch. This left us with only three seals to tube: Piston, Wiper and Spring. I felt as if we were going to tube these guys forever and there they were growing up on us. Now I understand what is meant when a parent would say, “They’re just growing up so fast.”

Week Seven Part II - How to save a life...

Buckle continued to improve during my weekend. She had become active enough that the catheter had to be removed. We were ‘swimming’ her in a 50/50 salt/warm water mix that was just high enough to get her flippers wet. This is done to wash the urine and feces that we missed rinsing off and to promote bowel movements (more information than you wanted to know I’m sure).

When I came in on my Monday she was having a bit of breathing trouble and her temperature was elevated. We (as in me and another intern, Laura) continued on with the routine of the afternoon while the seasonal girls continued to monitor Buckle’s respiration rate and temperature. Elizabeth decided to drop in have a look at her as well.

Buckle had been closely monitored for a couple of hours when her vitals began to crash. Michelle and Elizabeth snapped into action and quickly had Buckle on the floor manually stimulating the seal to breathe and maintain a heartbeat. Elizabeth was prepping meds for injection from our ‘crash kit’ that contained a plethora of medications for saving a life (i.e., dopram, atropine, epinephrine, etc.). I was asked by Elizabeth to assist her in prepping these medications by keeping track of the meds being used and how much was needed. In the kit is a chart that outlines dosages for each drug and the dosage is dependent upon the weight of the individual. Some of the dosages were in fact ranges of amounts. This posed a problem. There was no one on site to consult. Our two resident veterinarians were out at the Steller Sea Lion colony helping to brand pups and were only available by satellite phone. Tim was absent as well at a network meeting in Homer. We were fortunate enough to reach both Tim and one of the vets by phone. The situation became highly intense with Michelle on the floor manually stimulating Buckle and calling out respiration and heart rates, Elizabeth on the sat. phone with the vet, and Laura on the phone with Tim relaying everything that was going on. And then there was me, like a deer caught in the headlights. I wasn’t sure of my role in the chaos. I had never been in a situation like that before. When I worked at The BCWP if we had an animal crash like Buckle did we would euthanize it. We didn’t have the same resources as The Center did and life saving drugs were not available to us. I felt as useless as a third nipple.

I kind of just did what was asked of me. I would cap needles for Elizabeth or get passed the phone and relay info to Tim or be the timer for respiration rates. At this point Buckle had received both a dopram injection to stimulate respiration and atropine to stimulate the heart. Her vitals continued to be irregular despite this. Her heart beat was infrequent, beating once every 30 seconds and her breathing had arrested. No one was able to get the oxygen up and running so the only alternative was to bag her. I was asked to breathe for Buckle using the bag and to pay close attention to her respiration. I had found a purpose among the chaos and I finally felt I was doing something for her instead of waiting for orders. I focused on only her and watched her mouth and nares for a breath. I would call out, “Breath!” every time she inhaled. I made sure I was depressing the bag at a steady pace. I was hoping I wasn’t missing anything and I was nervous about missing any breaths she may have taken. She was taking in air less and less despite my efforts. It wasn’t long before she stopped breathing altogether. Her heart stopped beating as well and Elizabeth prepared to inject her with epinephrine in a final attempt to save her. The epi was injected and I could see Buckle gasp and then nothing…

She was gone… We all sat with her tiny lifeless body out of respect for this creature and took a minute for ourselves. I silently wept to myself and caressed her head. I could finally touch her in a loving manner which was a bittersweet moment for me. I whispered an apology to her expressing how sorry I was that we could not have done anything more for her. I again looked for solace in the fact that we could learn from her and circumstances she came to us in.

Elizabeth sat down with Laura and me after talking to Tim and told us this was a great opportunity for us to examine a seal more closely than ever. So I did just that starting with her head. I opened the mouth and had a look inside: ran my fingers over her teeth and gums, probed the back of her throat, had a look at her tongue. I looked at her vibrissae and whisker beds, her eyes, examined her third eyelid and her ears. I next moved to her fore flippers and had a look at her nails and just how the joints all worked. Elizabeth brought out Buckle’s feeding tube, gave us a bit of a tutorial on tubing and we tried it for ourselves. Tim had suggested having us try a blood draw as well. So Elizabeth talked us through a blood draw: finding the proper site to insert the needle, how to redirect the needle and how to draw up blood. I was appreciative of the hands on education.

When we were finished, Elizabeth packed up the body and refrigerated it for necropsy. I had hoped I could be involved in Buckle’s necropsy. It would have brought the whole situation full circle for me. I was grateful when someone from vet services dropped the next day by to ask if any of us in rehab wanted to be involved in the necropsy. I eagerly shot my hand into the air and so did Laura.

Laura and I participated in the necropsy and we were responsible for cutting and labeling tissue samples. We got a candid look at what hyperthermia does to the internal organs. There was a notable amount of blood congestion in some of Buckle’s organs, most importantly in the brain. This was indicative of hyperthermia. Initially Buckle was exposed to excessive heat because she sat in an airport wrapped in a winter jacket in a poorly ventilated area for three hours. That heat essentially fried the part of her brain responsible for regulating body temperature. Buckle’s core temperature continued to rise, causing blood and fluids to be dumped into the vital organs. This caused the breathing problems; she had fluid in the lungs and the blood congestion seen in the organs. If the suspicions of her being septic were true then there was nothing we could have done for her. Her homeostatic mechanisms in her brain were totally damaged and was not able to fight this infection.

So there it was…closure. That was how I dealt with this unfortunate event. I needed to fully understand how and why Buckle died to cope with the loss. That was what happened with Axle as well. Getting to the heart of the problem gave their deaths a purpose, a reason why.

Everyone grieves in their own fashion in this line of work. Some will throw themselves into caring for the other animals. Some clean or occupy themselves with busy work. And some just cry. That is how we can come back in the next day and the day after that and so on.

Week Seven Part I – How to save a life…

I mentioned in my last post that we had two seal pups flying into Anchorage on my Wednesday. The pup we first heard about that was coming from Petersburg died during transport. The other seal that was coming in from Egegik arrived alive but she was clinging to life. Whoever prepared her for transport had packed her all wrong. She was kept in a Rubbermaid container which is standard for the smaller communities that cannot get their hands on a kennel. The problem was that there were too few air holes made in the sides and the lid. They also had her wrapped in a winter/thermal jacket for the 3 hour flight from Egegik to Anchorage. It was because of those circumstances that she arrived with a 106.2 F/41 C temperature and totally unresponsive. This is past the point where an individual is experiencing hyperthermia; where the core body temperature has been in an elevated state for an extended period of time, leading to organ failure, brain damage and death. This was our first seal pup to arrive in a critical state.

We worked hard to stabilize her with ‘round the clock attention. There were 4 am feedings. We administered sub-cu fluids multiple times a day and we were constantly monitoring her temperature. Her temperature eventually came down, but she still remained unresponsive and much like a ragdoll. She didn’t need to be restrained. I would just climb into the tote and kneel next to her and open her mouth for the tube to be inserted. I remember her face was crusty and her mouth dry. Her head was just dead weight in my hands. She could barely keep her eyes open. The vet had fixed a catheter to her spine in order to get quick blood draws and administer medication. We were drawing blood nearly every feed to monitor glucose levels and packed cell volume (PCV). We used the same kind of glucose monitor that diabetics use. By monitoring her glucose levels we were able to determine if we were providing her with enough energy to get her to the next feed since all she was being tubed was fluids. The PCV was looking at the ratio of blood cells to plasma which determined how hydrated she was. We were never worried about her pulling it out for the first few days because whatever position we placed her in was the same 3 or 4 hours later. Those first 48 hours were critical and I was fortunate enough to be a part of monitoring her progress during that time. I was asked to come in at 4 am to tube her fluids to get her through to morning. We also took her temperature and drew blood for analyses. I was surprised to see her holding her head up and somewhat undulating around. She was even resisting a little when we went to tube her. I thought to myself that things were looking up for baby girl.

To this point she was a critical case and we had been reluctant to give her a name. Since we were seeing signs of improvement, one of our volunteers that had gone to pick up this seal was given the opportunity to name her. She chose the name Buckle.

Week Six – Piston’s Tune-Up

I took some initiative last week and adopted Piston as my project. What was the objective of this task? To get him to eat fish! For the five days I was working I was responsible for swimming Piston with a variety fish to see what would interest him the most or maybe even eat.

Piston had been outside overnight in the condos for about a week and the allure of being able to swim in his pool when he so chose to had rubbed off. He had become a little lazy and stayed hauled out pretty much all day. I wanted to change that. So on my Monday I got the tote ready by cleaning it, filling it, and preparing fish. I chose for him 1 small whole herring (dead) and 2 small live salmon. Once those fish were in the tote I got Piston from his condo and plunked him right into the water. I began with swimming Piston in a ¾ full tote, but he showed no interest in chasing the live fish. I decided to drop the water line to under ½ full to allow him to chase the salmon with greater ease. It worked! He became more active and was tracking the salmon like a pro. He decided to spare the lives of the salmon and I returned them to their holding tank.

On my Tuesday I went through the routine of setting up the tote for Piston once again. I was curious to see what size of fish he preferred so I decided to go with 1 small herring (dead), 1 large live salmon and 1 small live salmon. I kept the waterline below ½ full and tossed him in. We had rigged the tote with an agitator hose that would create a current and keep the dead fish moving. This also meant the tote needed to be a flow through system with the agitator pumping water in, water also needed to flow out so the tote didn’t overflow. Unfortunately we lost the small live salmon which Piston had shown the greatest interest in to the out flow drain. He then concentrated on the large live salmon and started tracking that one, but not as vigorously as he had with the small guy. All the while the dead herring went unnoticed.

My hump day got a little busy. We got a call from Petersburg about a seal pup and arrangements were made to fly it in to Anchorage that evening. Again it turned into a 2-for-1 deal and we had another pup flying in this one from Egegik. Most of that morning was spent putting aside chores and preparing the rescue truck and rehab itself for these two seals. I didn’t get the opportunity to swim Piston.

After looking at what Piston had responded to during his pervious swims I decided on using 1 small herring, one small live salmon, and 2 silversides for my Thursday swim. He was pretty active but not interested in the fish at all. I think I netted a retarded salmon. The fish wasn’t really moving like a fish should even before I put Piston in the tote. I think this was what attributed to this lack luster swim.

My Friday arrived and I gave Piston one more shot. I had a bit of trouble regulating the waterline for his swim and he ended up being in a ¾ full tote. I put in 1 live small salmon and a cut up herring. I lost the salmon yet again to the drain which directed Piston’s attention to the herring pieces. This was really great because he had been ignoring the herring all week long. He ended up nosing them for a bit. This meant he was pushing the fish along with his nose and would occasionally mash it into the side of the tote. He spent the rest of his time in the tote actively swimming and I had time to reflect on the week and his progress. He didn’t make much but I was still satisfied he was learning a little more everyday about tracking and making steps towards getting that fish in his mouth. It’ll just take practice and patience on our part.

Week Five – The kids from Egegik

Well it is nice to say that we haven’t slowed down any. This week was set at a steady pace with new animals coming in from far and wide. At the end of the previous week we received a ‘bathtub call.’ I had to ask, “What’s a ‘bathtub call’?” Vanessa explained that it is a call from someone who says, “I have a seal in my bathtub. What do I do?” The call came from Egegik, a small fishing town on the north side of the peninsula that juts out from mainland Alaska. The seal was scheduled to be flown into Anchorage for pick-up the next day. Well we got a 2 for 1 because another seal was picked up in Egegik a few hours later. They both were flown in and picked up Monday. These seals were even bigger than Diesel and younger because they both had their umbilical remnants. So big that our vet suspected that they were in fact spotted seals and took detailed measurements of their flippers. It was a boy and a girl, Gears and Clutch. A pretty routine admit for these two, who had no apparent ailments besides being a little dehydrated.

Not even 8 hours passed before we received another call from Egegik about another pup. I was a bit curious. How does a town with under 200 residents have so many pups to deal with? I later learned from Tim that the fishing practice in this area is to line the shallows with nets. This is an area where seals will hunt for fish and the fishermen believe that the seals pull fish from their nets. They will illegally shoot these ‘problem’ seals and give us the pups to deal with. It was pretty apparent that there was a lack of education about seals in this community and Tim has plans to conduct some information sessions for the citizens of Egegik in the near future. So that pup was flown into Anchorage for pick up and since it was my Monday Laura and April did the pick up. They came back with yet another giant baby seal and his name was Manifold. And he brought our number up to nine seal pups.

Around the same time of these three were being admitted we got a call about a pregnant Steller’s Eider with an apparent gunshot wound. This was kind of a big deal. Steller’s Eiders are a threatened species in Alaska and the breeding stock may number as few as 1000 individuals. The fact she may be carrying eggs made this situation even direr. The call came from Barrow, the northern most populated area in Alaska. She was flown from Barrow to Anchorage and picked up by a staff member. It turned out that she wasn’t shot, but her wing had been caught in some wire. She needed surgery and had her wing wrapped to prevent any motion while she was recovering. She was introduced to water and was fed krill. She had a very healthy appetite. There was some concern about collecting sufficient nesting material for her if in fact she was carrying eggs, but I’m not sure what came of that. I haven’t seen her. We have another bird in our care and we needed to shower in just to see her. I hope to see Nozzle because this may be the only opportunity I’ll have to be able to see a Steller’s Eider.

I mentioned we have another bird in our care. He is a Common Merganser named Turbo Charger. He came in from the Seward area after an intensive search for his mother. The problem is with these birds is that they are very social within a family group and imprint very easily. So his living area is off by itself and in his little tote he has a mirror and a picture of a Merganser family. We did this in hopes that he would familiarize himself with well, himself. We set up a camera for him and I think it looks like a little apartment with his pillow case floor and the adornments on the walls. It amused me very much.

Each week seems to offer up a new ‘project’ for us. Last week it was Wiper and the week before that it was Muffler. At times Wiper would be as gregarious as Gasket and she usually was the one answering the other kids’ calls. Something happened to her right around us moving her out into the condo area for the day. She became unusually quiet, lethargic and acting very much as a sick seal. The decision was made to keep her inside all day so we could constantly monitor her. Her treatment was pretty simple: antibiotics, sub-cu fluids and electrolytes substituted into her feeds. It was a little disheartening to see her not as her feisty self. That feeling worsened when she had some seizure activity on Thursday. It was very subdued with her staring blankly into space and head bobbing repetitively. When many of us saw this we couldn’t help but conclude dimoic acid toxicity, but this was not the case for Wiper, thankfully. It turned out she may have had mild septicemia caused by some sort of infection. Being septic would account for the seizures and a combination of antibiotics should solve the problem. She made quite a turnaround this week and is on her way back to her hard to handle self and I’m happy about that.

Week Four - Adaptation

As some of you may have noticed it has taken me longer than usual to post my goings on of last week. I lost my nearly completed blog. :( It upset me that I poured my heart into that post only to lose it. I’ve switched to typing up my post in Word and then posting it on my site to avoid anymore blog disasters and subsequent mental breakdowns. I’m going to try my best to remember what I had written and try to share it with you one more time.

When I think of the word adaptation I think of Tom in Evolution and I picture fish evolving lungs to survive life on land. Never did I think of adaptation in the context of breaking one’s habits and routines to survive life as an intern…

I’m not going to sugar coat my week and tell you it was fantastic. No, I’ll be honest and say it was a frustrating week for me. I’m not complaining because I know how lucky I am to be here. It was just a long week.

It was my last week of pm shift and my first working with a new seasonal person. Working with a new person comes a new way of doing things and this was the first habit of mine to break. She had a different way of tubing, different way of taking temperature, different everything and I found it tough to break the habits I formed with Michelle. As I was actively making an effort to change we got a new seal in from Homer, Diesel. He was a big boy (~10 kg) and dwarfed the other babies. During our 8 pm feed we needed to tube him electrolytes, but I seemed to be on auto-pilot. We tube the healthiest animals first and move down the line to the most recently admitted animals. Gasket is Gasket and he could pretty much tube himself because he’s discovered that he gets a warm, full feeling after we’re done with him. The babies (Muffler, Piston, Wiper, and Spring) were pretty small and just getting their teeth in. I noticed (feel) their new teeth when restraining, but it was nothing I was concerned with. Diesel was last and I hopped into the tote and sat on him like I do everybody else. I stuck my finger in his mouth like I had with the other seals to allow the tuber to tube and I got bit. It hurt, but I had heavy duty rubber gloves on and I added the left finger in to keep his mouth open. He bit down again. OUCH! But I pressed on. I stuck my middle fingers in instead and I got bit again. It was at this point I was really frustrated with myself and I lost it….I started to cry and like a girl too *geeze*. I pulled away and April had to tell me that if I wasn’t comfortable I needed to get off of him, but I wasn’t uncomfortable. I was upset and embarrassed. I needed to get this done, he needed to be tubed and we needed to finish and move on to our evening chores. I expressed this to her between sobs and she talked me through the rest of it. When we finished I hopped of that seal like a hot car seat and dashed for the door. I needed air and to compose myself. I had entered that vicious cycle that most girls are aware of; where you cry out of utter frustration and can’t stop crying because you’re embarrassed that you cried in the first place. I had realized I made a rookie mistake by being on auto-pilot and stuck in a routine. April came out nearly in tears herself and we talked about what had happened. She suggested a new tactic. I was grateful for her advice and patience.

I worked on breaking habits and not going on auto-pilot even with a camera in face as was the situation later in the week. A news crew from Anchorage came to do a story on Gasket. I had hoped they would be finished when I rolled into work at 3 pm but, to my dismay they had just begun when I came into start my shift. I haven’t had great experiences being on camera and anyone can ask me about San Antonio if they really want to know. So I was less than enthused to be on film and so was April as I found out. They filmed us doing our afternoon feed and swim of the kids. I’m not sure how cameras work but I didn’t think that the camera guy needed to be that zoomed in on me. It was nice that they were more interested in Tim so April and I could get the rest of the feed done. The piece aired the next night on the evening news and it turned out pretty great. <http://www.ktuu.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=2591679&h1=Seal%20pups%20swim%20their%20way%20from%20rehab%20to%20wild&vt1=v&at1=Video%20Player&d1=298434&LaunchPageAdTag=Station%204&activePane=info&rnd=90808345>

On my final day of night shift Elizabeth (mammal staff and assistant stranding coordinator) was in to give us a hand. I find I relate to her a lot because of her size, she’s a shorty like me! I told her what had happened to me earlier in the week and asked her what technique she uses. She demonstrated on Gasket and she also told me that finding the right technique wasn’t going to happen over night and it would take a lot of trial and error to find the one that would work for me. That’s what I was here for, to learn different techniques and to try them all out. She also mentioned that being on auto-pilot can be a dangerous thing especially when it came to restraining the larger animals. A good practice would be to focus on that animal and assess the risk it may pose to myself for every animal that we handle, big or small.

Week Three - This is more like it...

This has officially become my 'intern project' for the summer. I'm in the process of figuring out when I can post my blog on the ASLC website. Pretty much what I write here will be posted in the rehabilitation section of the website.

Anyhow this was my first week of pm shift and I've determined that working from 3 pm to midnight takes a toll on me mentally and physically, but that doesn't mean I'm complaining. I still managed to have a great week. So after the death of Axle that left us with only two animals to care for. I was kind of wondering to myself, "When are things going to pick up?" Well it wasn't more than a day that passed when things did. During my Sunday last week we were called about a seal pup stranded in Homer. Vanessa (seasonal) and Laura (intern) drove to Soldotna to pick up the pup. They picked her up in style in our Marine Animal Rescue truck. The seal usually rides out the trip back to Seward in the bed in a transport kennel. The truck has a tall canopy that has heaters installed to keep an animal warm. When the pup arrived she got a complete physical by one of our vets and the girls worked hard to get the seal pup hydrated. This is done both ways: we tube the animal an electrolyte solution and we administer a saline solution sub-cutaneously. It was also up to Laura to name the new girl. After careful consideration and consulting of many automotive catalogs she chose Wiper.

I didn't have much time to get to know Wiper when I came in on Tuesday because we got another call from Homer about a seal pup. The pick up of this pup was delegated to Michelle (seasonal and fellow Canadian) and I. We packed up the truck and headed to Soldotna. The drive was scenic and I got to see how the landscape changes as you go from Seward to the other side of the peninsula where Soldotna is. Seward is full of jagged snowy peaks where it moves to a mountain less landscape full of marshes and wind stunted pine trees as you close in on Soldotna. We pull in to Fred Meyer where the switch was to occur. We greet the stranding network volunteers from Homer. Michelle and I set to work looking over the seal, taking temperature, nose to flipper measurements and administering fluids. The seal looked fairly good for being stranded alone for 48 hours. Michelle asked the two boys with the volunteer ladies what kind of name they wanted to give the seal keeping with the car part theme. The older boy suggested Piston. We packed Piston up and set out for home. We stopped every half hour or so to check his temp. He stayed pretty cold for an hour so we made the decision to move Piston to the cab and crank the heat. It was pretty uncomfortable for Michelle and I but it seemed to warm up Piston. When we got him back to the center he underwent the same exam as Wiper by a vet. We also pumped more fluids into him before going home to bed.

Not only were new kids arriving but Gasket was taking the next step in his rehabilitation. He was moved outside this week to spend his days in one of the condos. The condo is a caged pool and haul out area for our young seals, sea lions and sea otters. It's a place where an older pup can swim in a full pool and learn to haul out of the water. Gasket was not the only one to learn about the condos. I also had to learn how to restrain an animal in a condo. It was not easy for me to climb in, and keep a hold on a seal as gregarious as Gasket. He's gotten quite fat and now there are no handles (lose skin) to grab on to. He also likes to roll. But as one of my fellow interns described, "I was watching the Gasket cam and someone threw a towel over his head and then climbed in. The camera blurred, it was all over before it even started and Gasket looked absolutely stupefied, no worries though he was asleep 4 minutes later." That's the best way to describe what we do.

This week also had me learning how to take temperatures of the seals and how to disinfect an umbilical remnant as well. I had to temp Piston each time on the way back from Soldotna and I've practiced on some of the other seal pups. I also assisted Michelle in administering sub-cu fluids. The newer kids were very complacent and would suck on their fore flippers while we were sticking them, but then there are seals like Muffler who needed to constantly be distracted or she would pull the needle out with her mouth.

Every seal is different and the instinct that all of them have baffles me, especially Gasket. As I have mentioned before he was a c-section born pup and has never come in contact with or let alone seen another seal. Yet he can swim (like a pro) and respond to the calls of the other kids.

I didn't spend too much time philosophizing over the seals because we got a call about another seal stranded on an island that houses a hydro-electric plant. He got the star treatment and was flown in to Homer. Another one of our network volunteers drove him into Soldotna where we made our third pick up of the week. This time it was Vanessa and Hilary who got to go and pick the seal up. The man from the hydro plant that rescued him suggested a few names and Spring was chosen. This is when my week came to a close; it started with just two animals to care for and ended with a full house of 5 kids. I can only hope we see more.

Week Two - A Lesson in Death

Here's week two flying by, and what a week it has been. It started off routine enough, with us interns perfecting our seal restraints. The process of restraining was becoming a bit easier, especially with the feedback we were getting from the seasonal girls. The routine of cleaning was getting easier to contend with as well. We didn't need to be told anymore what needed to be done and we started taking some initiative.

The babies were doing great. Gasket (male Harbour Seal pup ~1 month old) was being his melodramatic self and Muffler (female Harbour Seal pup ~under 2 weeks old) was quiet and adorable as usual. Axle (adult male California Sea Lion) was improving. We had not seen any seizure activity since being in our care. He had apparently seized while on the beach in Homer and this may have been a symptom of dimoic acid toxicity. He was doing so well we were conditioning him in order to be in our pre-release pool out back. We had a transport cage that we had to familiarize him with. We did this by conditioning him to associate running water with food. We would turn on the tap in his feeding tote and pour fish in it to get him in to the cage. We did this for a few days to the point that we could get him completely into the cage and close the door behind him. One afternoon we got him into the cage and pushed him into the back area while we cleaned his holding area and put a scale in it in order for us to get a weight measurement. The original estimate was 70 kg, turned out he was more like 170 kg or 375 lbs. We finally gave him pool access and hoped he would go for a swim. We were trying to get him used to the pool before we could move him to the big pre-release pool.

Thursday was routine enough, we were preparing food for the kids and we were going to feed Axle and get the transport cage set up after we were done. I was checking on the kids when I thought I saw and heard Axle hauling out of his pool and got excited and ran over to watch. My excitement quickly turned to panic when I realized that Axle was in the middle of a very strong and violent seizure. The vet was called promptly while I stood watch and timed his seizure. I'd rather not go into the gruesome details, but I'd like to add that it was something very upsetting to have to watch. The most violent portion of the seizure lasted only minutes. Dr. Carrie (the vet) soon arrived to see him for herself. This incident very much confirmed he had a chronic form of dimoic acid toxicity, which is something similar to red tide that affects the brain and nervous system. It starts with an algae bloom and the toxins they produce concentrate at each level of the food chain. These toxins trigger seizures that cause brain damage and sometimes death. There are two types of dimoic acid toxicity: acute which is treatable and chronic which cannot be treated. Because of the magnitude of the Thursday morning seizure it was pretty apparent that Axle had the chronic form and should be euthanized to end his struggle. Dr. Carrie proceeded to sedate Axle with our help. In rare events a sedative can have the opposite effect cause the individual to be hyperactive. This was Axle's case and the doctor had to inject him 2 more times for the drug to take effect. During this time Axle was seizing and again it was pretty violent and difficult to watch. The sedative finally took over and we could go in to put him down. Death came quickly for Axle after the injection. I was relieved it was over and that he didn't have to suffer anymore.

Next came the necropsy (animal autopsy) for which we prepared for right away. I sat in on a portion of it. Knowing that we could learn from dissecting Axle set my mind at ease and kept me from totally breaking down. It was a methodical process and many tissue sections were taken to be tested. I knew he would provide more information towards this disease and I was satisfied with that.

I was slated to do a necropsy on a sea otter on my Friday and I was excited to be involved in it. As usual things don't go as planned around here and a dead female Steller Sea Lion was picked up in the bay area and dropped off at our back door. It appeared that she was lactating and possibly pregnant. The boat and trailer were parked out of the way and we conducted the necropsy on the boat to which I should add was one of the centers and not a private citizen’s. This was the first necropsy I was fully involved in; holding back intestines and bagging tissue samples etc. Dr. Carrie proceeded in cutting the abdomen open and turned out she was pregnant with a full term female pup. It was estimated that momma had been dead for 24 hours at the most. Baby was in a more advanced state of decomposition and was later determined and she was dead at least 24 hours before momma died. After the necropsy on momma had completed we moved inside to dissect baby. The little one had extensive bruising in the right side of the body which was the same side where momma had bruising as well. Their deaths were the result of a boat strike. Baby died instantly and momma lived for another day before she succumbed to her injuries. Again it was upsetting to see a momma and baby dead, especially when she was going to give birth within the week or so. Since she was found in the bay area there is a possibility that she may be known to the researchers here that have cameras on haul out areas, but this may take a while to determine.I didn't have much strength to stick around for the sea otter necropsy which could take three hours to complete. So I missed out, but I hope to be involved in more necropsies over the summer. One of my goals is to become more familiar with marine mammal anatomy and this week certainly kicked it off for me.

Week One - Introduction to Seward

Well, my first week has come to a close. I feel a little overwhelmed with the barrage of information I've experienced. This week has been all about orientation: orientation of Seward, intern orientation, stranding orientation. The first few days involved meeting with the other interns, meeting staff and learning about The Center (http://www.alaskasealife.org/). Another intern and I were able to walk through quarantine with my supervisor on Tuesday. Learned the first rule of stranding/rehab, once you enter the quarantine area you cannot enter the main building until after you have showered and changed your clothing. This is ensures no pathogens or viruses from the rehab animals come in contact with the center's animals. Thursday consisted of meeting the seasonal staff of stranding. Tim (my supervisor) was absent because he was responding to a call in Petersburg concerning a Steller Sea Lion who subsequently died prior to transport. All of us (4 interns) were showed quarantine and met the only animal we had at that time. His name is Gasket and he's a 2 week old Harbour Seal, born from a cesarean section on a fishing vessel in Valdez. His mom was being harvested, the boat crew noticed she was very much pregnant and a c-section was performed. He's very healthy and very vocal. We are concerned with him imprinting on humans because he has never seen another seal before and humans have been caring for him since birth. We then learned the second lesson of stranding, cleaning. Much of our time will be spent cleaning up after the animals and ourselves.

Time not spent cleaning is split between preparing food for the animals and feeding them. We learned how to prepare a milk formula and fish formula. That involved something I'm familiar with....blenders! It's like a fishy smoothie. Smells wonderful! :x When the food is made up it is time for feeding. For the pups right now we are tube feeding them every meal. That involves a tuber and a restrainer. We learned to restrain a seal pup. During this process we learned that seals are squirmy and if they just had a swim before their meal, they are very slippery! Weights and temperatures have to be taken as well and in order to do those things an animal must be restrained or physically picked up. We had to learn how to make a seal burrito... lol just a pup wrapped in a towel for transport and pick up. And that is pretty much the day for me.

In my down time I have managed to walk through town; down 4 th street which is the main drag and to the harbour. I've been on a few runs. I took a pretty memorable one the other night. I decided to jog the road that runs south along the bay towards the tidal flats. It had cleared up after two days of rain, but (for some reason) I didn't predict the dirt road to be so muddy. I proceeded on my run with my pants and shoes caking themselves with a mud that I can only describe as shale clay. I hadn't quite reached Lowell Point when I decided to turn around. I saw a moving silhouette in the water and as I drew closer to it I recognized it as a sea otter, even though I have never seen one in the wild. Indeed it was a sea otter and I sat on the nearest sturdy rock to observe him. He was foraging in the shallows. I gave him lots of distance so I could observe without disturbing him. It was because of this I couldn't see him all that well but I definitely could hear him munching on some sort of crunchy morsel. This in fact made my day, it made the rinsing and washing of my extremely dirty pants and shoes worth while.

Stay tuned...

Hey everyone!
I'll be using this page to update you all when I'm in Alaska. I've got a little over a month to go and I'm really getting excited. My goal is to post an entry once a week. I'll post some pics on here, but the majority will be posted on facebook. So stay tuned to this page for updates.