Outbreak of neurotoxin killing unprecedented number of sea lions along California coast

By the time the rescue squad got to her, a small crowd had formed around the agitated California sea lion. As the team crept toward her — carrying large wooden shields and a giant net — the animal's head weaved, craned and rocked back and forth in frenzied rhythms.

Lucille — as she was later named by the Marine Mammal Center's Morro Bay field office — had barely registered her captors' approach as the team of five animal rescue volunteers pounced on her. A small struggle ensued as the creature's body went rigid with seizures, but the team managed eventually to push her into an XXL portable dog crate.

"It's really hard when they're not acting like sea lions," said Jake Roth, a 22-year-old volunteer who helped with the rescue.

It was the first of dozens of frantic rescue phone calls made by horrified beachgoers that day, as an acute domoic acid outbreak continued to wreak havoc along the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara coasts this summer.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/outbreak-neurotoxin-killing-unprecedented-number-100049223.html