Pacific Marine Mammal Center

THERE ARE MANY POSTS I almost make, many I mean to make, and a few that I actually say I will make, but don't get around to. One of the latter category was when a friend of mine (one I made when I first visited Oregon in 2002-ish, let's refer to this friend as "Mariana") actually rescued a sea lion. Here is text from one of Mariana's emails:

so i climb over rocks for about 20 feet through water trying not to get slammed into the wall by waves at the deep part. i get to the sandy part where the waves only occasionally got my feet wet and was at the cove FINALLY. there's the sea lion, looks emaciated and has an almost perfecly round wound on his flipper where you can see tendon and bone exposed (from a cookie cutter shark.) i only had a couple towels on me because the kennel carrier weighs 45lbs and we couldnt trek it all this way from the truck. i had to towel over his head with him trying to bite the towel (or me if i got close enough) until i got it over his head and pinned him down (he tried to get away, i had to grab his tail flippers while a life guard helped get the towel back on him.) so then i pick him up, he's heavier than he looks, about 50-70lbs and compact. i had to then carry him back through the rocks and the water, and manage to climb up the rocks i jumped down in the first place.

This "inside source" of mine works at Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC), an organization dedicated to rescuing and helping marine animals in need. I was speaking to Mariana and got a lot of inside details on this story, for example. That was another post I meant to write up, but didn't get to.

The picture up top is a shot Mariana sent me of the sea lion described in the passage above. And this is the crazy stuff PMMC does on the regular!

I have to say I have mad respect for those people and organizations who are in it for the Good of it. From volunteer fireman to nurses to sea lion rescuers to peace corps members to activists of many stripes to volunteer poll workers... and so on.

As is the case when people are more motivated by a principle than a profit, they often need help from the rest of us, be it monetarily or with a simple online signature or vote. I write here now because PMMC is up for a small grant that will help them do what they do. Requires nothing from us but an electronic vote. No rock-scrambling, no towel wrapping, no sea lion cajoling. If you have the time and the energy, I ask you to please vote for their receiving this grant.