It is currently pupping season for harbor seals at La Jolla's Children's Pool, which extends from mid-December to mid-May.
To the delight of seal lovers, we're heading into "prime time" for seal births at the pool. But pups can and do get abandoned, which happened earlier this week.
Sea World was alerted on Tuesday that a pup had been abandoned at the pool. The marine mammal park's communications director, Dave Koontz, said Sea World responded.
"We like to wait 24 hours before we do a rescue to give plenty of time for the mother to reunite with the pup," he explained. "On Wednesday, when the pup was three or four days old, we rescued it."
Koontz said the seal is being nursed from a bottle with special marine mammal milk formula.
"The vet examined it this (Friday) morning and the animal looks great, is very healthy," he said, adding it will be kept at the park for a month or so until it is weaned. "If it demonstrates with adequate sufficiency that it can survive on its own in the wild, we'll release it back off the coast," he said.
The Natural Resources and Culture Committee of the San Diego City Council is expected to hear testimony at a later date on the prospect of turning Children's Pool into a marine mammal park.
Following is video footage of the seal pup being rescued at Children's pool that was posted on YouTube.
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