CALIFORNIA SEA LION PUP RESCUED AND RETURNED TO WILD.

A young California sea lion found malnourished and injured inside a waterfront San Diego restaurant was returned to the wild on Tuesday, after eight weeks of rehabilitative care at Sea World’s animal rescue center. The female sea lion pup, nicknamed Marina, made headlines when she was discovered huddled in a booth at the Marine Room, a white-tablecloth eatery known for its gourmet seafood menu, in early February. She was one of many hundreds of sea lions, mostly pups, to turn up starving and stranded along the California coast since last year, apparently the result of warming seas that have disrupted the marine mammals’ food chain. At the time of her rescue, Marina, then 8 months old, weighed only about 20 pounds (9 kg), about half the ideal weight for her age, and was suffering from an eye injury of unknown origin, according to Sea World. After being nursed back to health, her eye healed, Marina was taken by boat, along with eight recently rescued and rehabilitated sea lions to be returned home in the Pacific, 12 miles to 14 miles (19 km to 23 km) off the coast of San Diego, Sea World said. source; News daily.com