The Sad Sea Lion
I am about to tell you the saddest story, so please grab a tissue or make sure that you’re not in public as you read this.
Last week we were in Brookings, OR. We had an incredible condo that was on top of a huge cliff that had a trail that you could walk down and see the beach. The first night we got there, we made dinner, unpacked, showered and watched a movie. Around midnight Josh popped his head up with a bright idea “Want to walk down to the beach?”. Kim, Jared and I decided it was a good idea and grabbed jackets, flashlights and bundled up. We started our trek down. We were all laughing, stumbling and having a great time.
Finally we were on the beach, it was high tide, so there was only a small section that we could actually get to. Josh started to wander as Jared, Kim and I hung near the shore. Kim, being the perfect girlfriend she is, was shining a light as Josh walked. He walked past a rock, but the rock moved. She quelled, “JOSH! It’s a Sea Lion!”. I immediately started to point my light where hers was. I was so excited to see wildlife, but instead, we saw the saddest baby sea lion ever. His eyes were so big and so black. He was definitely a baby, at about 3 feet long. I imagine he was suppose to be a lot more plump, but instead looked skinny and helpless. Josh has almost stepped on his head and he barely had the strength to pull his head up. My heart broke in a million pieces and none of us knew what to do. If I find a kitten or puppy I know exactly what to do, I could list 5 dogs in the past year that I’ve given food and water and found their homes. With a wild sea lion… you can’t pick it up, you can’t feed it, I felt so helpless.
Jared made the wise choice to go back to the condo in case there were more Sea Lions near. We hiked back up to the condo in complete silence. I kept thinking about his big black sad eyes that were just staring up at us. He clearly wasn’t tame, he didn’t want to be there, but he had no strength to move.
We got back up to the Condo and I pulled out my iPad to see what to do. After a few different sources, the conclusion was leave it alone. Apparently baby Sea Lions get really exhausted swimming around and beach themselves, this is usually the case, if there is not visible injury. They also claimed that the mama sea lion was probably near by and they are very aggressive, so get out of there. I felt a bit relieved.
The next day was the first day that it was hot enough to have a beach day. We decided to pack up our beach towels and head down to the beach. When the trail opened to the beach we were all incredibly relieved that there was no baby sea lion in sight. I felt 100 times better. We put our towels down and hung out for a few hours. Then we decided to move to a new part on the beach. Josh and Kim went first and set up a hammock and were having handstand contest. Jared and I trailed behind. Jared was fishing and after we dropped our stuff he went to the shoreline to cast, I decided to explore.
I was wandering around picking up shells and really enjoying myself. Kim was laying in the hammock and Josh was wandering too. Josh caught my attention and said, our friend didn’t make it. About 10 feet away from me was the baby sea lion. My heart just sank. He had made it about 500 feet away from where he was last night, but he was beached again and his big black eyes were closed. I started to walk closer and bent down over him. Josh was about 5 feet behind me. I started to look at his ribs and could see tiny ups and downs. I couldn’t tell if it was breath or just an illusion. I stood up and his eyes opened! I jumped back and yelled to Josh, “He’s alive!”. We still were in the same predicament as the night before. What do we do?
Jared and Kim noticed us and started their way over. We all just stared like a bunch of idiots. This creature was so foreign to us. According to everything I had read the night before, I was still being very cautious, but it was clear that this guy had no strength to be aggressive. Jared was fishing with Shrimp, so we put a few shrimp buy him and filled up our cups and poured some fresh water down the sand, so it would trickle onto his body. We walked away and decided we needed to leave him alone. Everyone went to pack up and I stood and stared at the Sea Lion. I felt so terrible. I felt helpless and I felt like he wasn’t going to make it. I started to tear up, but I had to walk away.
I am not sure I’ve ever felt so helpless. It was an incredible experience, even if it wasn’t a good one. I hope with every fiber in my body that he survived and that we was exhausted and just needed a few days to get back on his flippers. Even if that didn’t happen, I’m going to tell myself he was the miracle Sea Lion that made it :)
Have you ever felt hopeless in a similar situation??
