Would a sea lion, by any other name...

still smell as pungent?

I say YES! It's been an interesting few weeks over at Wolf Hollow. I didn't go in on April 1st due to some stomach bug I had. But this past week they did try...and finally succeeded, in weighing our newest and largest ever, internee. Allow me to introduce Sedna, Wolf Hollow's first Steller's sea lion.



Up until now, we have only had Harbor seals in care. They use their back flippers to propel themselves while swimming and therefore can be handled relatively easy, as long as you are careful. We release them when they are around 80lbs. as long as they can swim well and eat moving fish(I'll explain that process later).

Sedna, on the other hand, was 6 months old when we got her, weighed 93lbs.(being 50lbs. underweight) and uses her front flippers to move, as do all sea lions. This makes them faster...a LOT faster, and VERY strong! We were told by the folks that handed her over to us that the day before they had tried to give her IV fluids and the person who got on top to immobilize her hadn't gotten her front flippers out from under her and was carried around the room clinging to Sedna while the other person followed after them carrying the IV bottle.

Needless to say, the learning curve in how to deal with her was steep and fast. It took 4 of us the next week to give ger fluids. Two people immobilized her, one person put in the needles, and I held 2 bags of fluid and tried to squeeze them as hard as I could to get the fluid in as quickly as possible. Even with all of that it took us an hour and we all had to keep a sharp eye on her mouth as she gets very bitey!


I mean, look at those teeth! She's only 6 months old and looks like she needs major dental work!

She is incredibly smart as well. We weighed her two weeks after she arrived and the only way we managed to do that is by "tricking" her into going into a large dog carrier by tossing herring into the back of it. That is the ONLY time that worked and that was over a month ago. This time they had to toss a blanket over her, wrap her in a net, put her in a sling, and then hang it from a tripod scale. She now weighs 160lbs.! She should be ready for release in about a month, assuming we can get her actually into the water, as she seems to not like it. Don't ask!

Well, another week has passed and I thought I would introduce the two beings that share my living space with me.

This is Maya. I got her at 7 weeks of age about 10 years ago. She is VERY loving and very attached to me. Almost too much so. She constantly wants to head-butt me and be held. It's cute for about the first 10 minutes. But, my house would be very boring without her, especially after losing my other cat last year.


She is also very curious and is ALWAYS getting into mischief. I had to replace the handles on the lower 2 drawers of my dresser as she kept opening them up to crawl into them. And, I don't know how she did this, but the day after I moved in here, she managed to get stuck behind one of my bookshelves, both of which were snug up against the wall. They are 6 feet tall and all I can think is that she somehow managed to jump from one to the top of the other. This is the end result though and I did manage to stop laughing long enough to take this picture.


This is Tristan. He is a 5 year old purebred Welsh Pembroke Corgi and has a genetic defect that made his hair grow longer than normal. They call a dog with this condition a "fluff". I liked this look when I researched it, as I thought it made them seem more fox-like. On the other hand, I was very grateful that it didn't grow any longer, as I did read their hair can grow down to the ground. He is the first puppy I have ever had and boy, did we go through some rough times together. He is also a momma's boy and he rides in the car with me every chance he gets.


I am fortunate enought to get to take him to work with me and he plays with the 8 other dogs there. Because he is so furry, he tends to get warm quickly. Therefore he spends time outside cooling off at work, which means just hanging outside to wading in the pond on the property. This is where the long fur can NOT be a fun thing, as it is a dirt magnet. But he always seems so happy that it's hard to be too mad at him. Don't let the pic fool you. I just asked him to "wait" while I took the pic, hence the dejected look!


That's it for now. More on the inhabitants of Wolf Hollow later, as "baby season" is getting ready to start. We already have 7 baby bunnies!

So, it's been what...a YEAR (exaggeration for the sake of emphasis) since my sister had me start this thing and here is my first REAL posting. I am wondering how long it takes good ol' Westeringhills to see that I have actually worked on this. I am sure she has given up on me as a lost cause...blogging-wise that it.

Why, some of you may ask, or maybe you just aren't THAT curious about blog names, is my blog name what it is? Well, I just wasn't in that creative of a mood and decided to use the name of the organization I work for as my blog name...again, under duress and at the urging of my sis. I am sure I will change it eventually, but until then, there you have it. I work for a wonderful marine conservation/activist organization, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (www.seashepherd.org). We are what I had always thought, being somewhat ignorant of the issue, that Greenpeace was and that is an ACTIVIST organization. While Greenpeace was down "bearing witness", i.e. filming, the whales being killed in Antarctica this past December and January, we were out there trying to actually STOP the whaling.

Well, enough of that. What do I do in my spare time on this beautiful island? I volunteer for another GREAT organization...Wolf Hollow Rehab Center. They are the wildlife rehabilitation center for the San Juan Islands and quite a bit of the nearby mainland as well. So, in working there 4 hours every Saturday morning, I get to see babies like these.....



turn into GORGEOUS birds like this!



Yeah, it's very cool and VERY hands on! I NEVER thought I would get to work so closely with some of the most beautiful creatures we have around here, from hummingbirds and bats, to eagles and harbor seals. I am sure you will all be bored with all the animal pics by the time I am done. Some share their love of food and recipes, I will be sharing my love of animals while trying to keep the preaching to a minimum. Ta for now!

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I can't believe my sister has talked me into doing this!