Theft of sea lion still under investigation

The search for a sea lion pup and the group of people who stole it from a state beach in Los Angeles continued Monday, with officials saying the LAPD’s animal cruelty division was taking over the investigation.

The pup was stolen before dawn Sunday when a resident reported seeing two men and two women harassing a pair of sea lions at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey, LAPD officials said. The group had been seen throwing trash and, at one point, a concrete block at the pups.

The witness, who was collecting containers for recycling at the time, saw a woman wrap one of the pups in a comforter and pack the mammal into the trunk of a dark-colored Honda Civic, Lt. Lydia Leos said. The car’s license plate number, according to the witness, ends with the numbers 56.

Federal law prohibits the harassment, hunting, capture or killing of sea lions. The criminal penalty for hurting a pup is up to $100,000 in fines and/or a year in jail, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

After being called to Dockweiler beach by police, Peter Wallerstein — president of Marine Animal Rescue, a nonprofit group that helps stranded sea animals get back to the ocean — found the second sea lion hiding in bushes beside a bicycle path. The pup was unharmed, he said.

Sea lions often wander onto land looking for food, Wallerstein said, and people have taken them before. He said most people have good intentions but make bad decisions.

“They’ll put them in their bathtubs, then call us to rescue them,” Wallerstein said.

One would-be owner kept a sea lion in his backyard for three days before giving it up. “It wasn’t eating, so they thought they’d better call someone,” Wallerstein said.

Sea lions do not make good pets, Wallerstein said: They bite with 10 times the strength of dogs, and their mouths are dirtier and more bacteria-ridden than those of any other mammals.

Last year, Wallerstein said, he rescued 294 marine mammals, most of them sea lions. This year he’s already up to 321. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, there were 350 pup strandings on California beaches in January, 850 in February and 1,050 in March.

The unusually high number could be connected to fluctuations in the sea lion population on the California coast over the last few years. NOAA experts believe there’s less prey available, and pups are being driven to the shore because they can’t find food. Warmer seas could also be a factor.

The pup rescued Sunday morning was emaciated. “Hopefully he survives, and we find the other one,” Leos said.