The California Wildlife Center is planning on releasing four elephant seals back into the Pacific Ocean this week in Malibu after they were beached about two months ago.
The release will be closed to the public in an effort to keep the mammals’ stress levels as low as possible, according to marine mammal stranding coordinator Jeff Hall.
“If there were hundreds and hundreds of spectators it would really stressful to the animals,” he said.
The four young elephant seals were the first group of rescued mammals brought to a recently constructed temporary shelter at the CWC’s headquarters in Malibu Canyon. The shelter was built in order to accomodate the record number of rescued elephant seals that have been found stranded along the Los Angeles County coast this year.Â
“[The temporary shelter] has actually been really working out great for us,” Hall said. “We’ve been able to house them comfortably.”
Before the temporary shelter, stranded mammals from Malibu faced strenuous van rides to marine mammal care centers in San Pedro and Laguna Beach. The CWC is currently on the lookout for a place in the Malibu area to construct a permanent shelter.