A sea lion was rescued off the southern coast of Vancouver Island on Monday after being found with a plastic band stuck around its neck.
The Marine Mammal Rescue, along with the support from DFO vessels, were at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve to free the animal from a plastic packing band.
According to staff with the ecological reserve, authorities successfully used a tranquillizer dart to put the sea lion to sleep, before removing the piece of plastic.
In a blog post on the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve website, staff added that during the rescue, crews put tracking tags on the sea lions front flippers and took a blood sample.
Following the procedure, Marine Mammal Rescue injected a reversal drug into the animal to wake him up.
Pictures of the process were posted online to the ecological reserve’s website, showing an imprint of where the plastic ring had wrapped around the sea lion’s neck.
According to staff, upon waking up, the sea lion headed safely on his way.
Marine Mammal Rescue remove a plastic band from around a sea lion’s neck at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve
Marine Mammal Rescue adds tags and takes a blood sample of the sea lion
The sea lion wakes up following the plastic band’s removal
Graham Cox
